Tweet If you’re reading this, you want to be published. You want to become an author or be published in a mainstream magazine. Congratulations on acknowledging this HUGE first step! As someone who has walked this path from absolutely no writing experience aside from an internship to working full-time as a copywriter to eventually getting published in newspapers and magazines, I know how simply COURAGEOUS it is to just admit your dream. And I know how difficult it is to want to share it with others who end up telling you why being a writer is a dismal job with…
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Tweet Being a writer requires fierce tenacity. Not just to write every day when there’s no deadline, but because rejection comes with the territory. You could devote eight hours a day six days a week to writing, thousands of dollars in classes, memberships, and coaching, and still get those template rejections. The ones that say writing is subjective so don’t take it personally. In other words, “It’s not you, it’s me.” None of that softens the blow. It’s a dodgy game with few winners. Even the ones who “win,” don’t get the accolades, validation or acknowledgment for the hours of…
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Tweet Full disclosure here. A professor once told me I’d be a professional student and I didn’t prove him wrong. I still take oodles of writing courses from the comfort of my home. And one thing I’ve been hearing a ton from literary agents are all the true and shocking stories of writers who write obnoxious things in response to their rejection letters. Please if you’re a reader here, new or old, do not end of being one of those writers. I know I’m guilty of hitting the reply button too soon, but accusing agents of not reading my work…
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Tweet Just this Thanksgiving, I sent out a silent prayer of thanks for an inbox void of rejection letters. Guess what I received a few hours later? Thank you agent for taking time from your busy holiday schedule to decline my manuscript! In my writer’s critique group, I am the only one who has sent over a 100 submissions with not one acceptance letter. Yet, I continue to work on my craft every single day. Am I crazy? I just have faith that with time and hard work, I’ll eventually get there. But even I lose hope every once in…
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Tweet Hi there. It’s been months. I’m not sure if anyone is still reading this, but if you are, welcome. I got my graduate degree in counseling psychology years ago. But for the last decade, I’ve been working as a writer. The more I wrote, the more writing seemed to circle back to the same themes of health, wellness and spirituality. My tagline once was I used to be a therapist now I counsel others on the written word. That’s what I want to do here. Offer advice for writers looking for help dealing with all the negative emotions that…
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Tweet I doubt any writer is immune to the vulnerability that comes with handing over your work to someone else. It’s a brutal business this writing thing. But it’s part of what you sign up for when you decide to be a writer. Recently, my rejections have dug deep into my heartstrings only because I’m getting closer to work that means a lot to me. I’m no stranger to getting rejected for jobs, articles and essays. In fact, my email inbox is flooded with them. But when you work on something that not only takes up a lot of time (time…
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Tweet The deeper you get into your work, the harder it is to separate your self from what you’re working on. You’ll notice that the more passionate, the more involved you are, the more the deep dark stuff of your unconscious seeps out. It’s easier to live life on the surface. That way when rejection happens, it doesn’t hurt as much. You failed, but you didn’t care anyway. But what happens when what you’re failing at means the world to you? It hits at your core, purpose, and sense of self-worth. If you’re writing about a company, it stings a…
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Tweet If you’re suffering through a field of rejections, keep reading… It took awhile, but eventually I found a pace, my zone, an ability to actually push through my anxiety and create articles I was proud of. But more importantly, got paid for. That was a great feeling, but I didn’t sit in my laurels for long before I had a desire to venture outside my comfort zone and towards the writing I dreamed of creating. Writing for children. Writing personal essays. But in the slog of writing green, I’m gaining a ton of rejections, which can be demoralizing to say the…
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Tweet No matter how long you’ve been writing, it always gets to you. The formal rejection letter. The kind, but full revision request. No reply. Writers are subjected to rejection as part of their job. But it doesn’t make things easier. While I tend to get over it faster than I did 7-years ago when I started as a freelance writer, it still hurts the ego. Like a scab that you constantly pick at, my mind constantly asks, “Why oh why did I make that dumb mistake?” That is, until I heard this Soundstrue podcast with Playing Big: Find Your Voice, Your…
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Tweet All artists have trouble with their egos. Maybe it’s because unlike other fields, our sense of self and our creation are personally intertwined in a beautiful, yet complicated relationship. We often get defensive when editors pick away at our prose. And when finally hitting send on that perfect piece we spent days on, we’ve never felt more vulnerable. That’s why it hurts so much when we’re rejected. It’s not just an attack on our work, but it feels like an attack on our soul. But allowing our egos to get wrapped up in our work isn’t just unrealistic and…