Last night, one of the members of my writing group got married. 
All but one of the current members of the group were there, and a couple former members turned up as well.
Talk turned, as it will amongst such groups, to rejection. Soon we were attempting to outdo each other with how many rejections we'd each received.
- I allowed as how I'd sent out Emma Jean at least 50 times.
- My retreat partner said she'd sent out her book of cat photographs well over 100 times.
- And yet another writer told me he'd submitted his novel 120 times.*
Lest you think we're all just bad writers, consider this:
- My novel will be published by Vagabondage Press in February of 2013.
- My retreat partner just got word yesterday that the cat book will be published next year as well.
- And the other writer's earlier novel has been made into a movie that will be released in September.
Rejection. It is part of the writer's life. To become a successful, published writer, you have to steel yourself againt rejection. You have to learn to live with it. And you need to be able to bounce back from it and submit again, as the numbers above testify. Too many writers stop after getting two or three rejections.
Here are some posts I've written about rejection:
A 5-Step Process to Deal With Rejection
Getting Your Work Out in the World: The Mindset
Getting Your Work Out in the World: The Mechanics
That ought to keep you reading for awhile. While you're at it,
Create a successful, inspired writing life: Submit something. Maybe it is something that's been rejected before, maybe it is something new. Doesn't matter. Just do it.
Please, please, comment. Care to admit how many times you've been rejected? How do you handle it?
*Names have been omitted to protect the rejectees.
Photo by clshearin.
