If you’ve noticed, my site has been dead as of late. See the tumbleweeds blowing?
Okay so what’s my excuse? I don’t have any books to reveal or amazing opportunities to share. I’ve been busy getting rejection after rejection.
And rejection takes a ton of work and time. It’s a full-time job this rejection thing.
But I’m thinking if you found my site, you might be getting a few rejections too. So what do you do?
How do you keep yourself motivated when you’re getting daily rejection letters for your manuscript or pitch?
I didn’t know either so I reached out to other writers in a Facebook writer’s group and they generously shared what they do in the midst of multiple rejections. In fact there were over 40 comments! I asked these writers if I could post their wisdom, which I thought was really smart and unique. Here’s how they deal with the least fun part of the writing process.
Terry Shepherd I calculated how many rejections famous people got before they succeeded and divided that by their average annual income. Each time I’ve been rejected, I treat it like a payday and thank them for helping me get one step closer to my goal.
Mariah N Gary Deitrick I don’t mind a couple of rejections. I’ll keep sending out the MS. By 3 rejections, I take a fresh look at my work, my cover letter, and query letter. I revamp and start again. Sometimes it’s nothing personal. Sometimes it’s because our work isn’t the best it can be. We learn and move on. But never stop.
Emily Vieweg It just means i have work to do, or need to find a different audience.
Jonathan Kalman Make sure you have done everything to get the best work in front of the agent/publisher. Use Beta readers on the manuscript, and post your query letter and blurb on critique pages to help you perfect it.
Do you have any advice for coping with rejection? Share your wisdom with us too.
