Tips for Dealing with Rejection—My Personal Advice
Rejection. With trembling hands we open the email only to find the familiar words, "So sorry, but this isn't for us."
What do you do next?
When I began putting my words on paper, I was a young English student. I expected rejection and ridicule. I had no lofty belief that my English teacher would read what I wrote and rave about my brilliance. Instead, I expected (and rightly so) criticism. At that point in my life, I realized that writing is fraught with the prospect of rejection.
Never did I realize then what I know now--that rejection is a part of a writer's life. Each time a perfectly crafted query goes unnoticed or worse still in the slush pile, I cringe and hide my head. More than once, I've given up on the project and allowed it to disappear among my long list of documents, unread and forgotten.
Withstanding rejection is one of the hardest things any artist has to learn to do. Whether you're a painter, artisan of jewelry, writer or performer, there are people out there who will not love your work. Those people tend to drive us nuts.
As a stand-up trainer I face audiences all the time, and I've learned a thing or two about rejection.
1) For every person out there who frowns at you, there are fifteen who are smiling.
2) If we focus on the frowns, we will not only become paralyzed, but we will also fail those smiling faces.
3) Sometimes the frowns are misinterpreted. Sometimes even they are smiling underneath the frown.
4) Those who persist win.
I'm trying to adapt these insights to my writing endeavors. When someone rejects my work, I remind myself that agent or publisher or reader is not rejecting me. If I persist, maybe someone will look up from the page and smile.
My best personal advice for handling rejection? Keep writing, keep submitting and set up a rejection file.
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e-Murderer
On this anything but typical Monday morning Jenna Scali, who works part-time for a shrink, opens an email that depicts the brutal death of a young girl. On that same day the police uncover a dead coed two blocks from Jenna’s house. The e-murderer’s description creepily echos the death described in the newspapers.When Jenna receives other emails, she takes what she knows to the police and thus begins her journey in the path of the e-murderer. Her curious nature impels her from e-messages to dead coeds to a ring of prostitutes. With the help of her quirky friends, Jenna learns that she’s more than a conduit for the killer. She’s his target. New secrets unfold, and finally her love life takes a tumble when the true killer emerges.
THE E-MURDERER is a race to find a psychotic killer before he kills again.
This new mystery series with a young female sleuth promises to keep you glued to your seat until the last page.
Buy on Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Kobo Books / MuseItUp Publishing
The author is giving away two prizes: One, a $15 Amazon or BN Gift card (their choice) and Two, a signed copy of the award-winning book, The Clock Strikes Midnight.
About the author:
Joan is an award-winning writer who has published 6 books and numerous stories. Readers compare her to the great Southern writer, Fanny Flagg. “She writes characters and a story that will stay with you.”
Her debut mystery/suspense novel, The Clock Strikes Midnight, won the silver medal for fiction/suspense in the Global eBook Awards for 2015 and is a finalist for the Royal Palm Literary Award. The e-Murderer won first place in the Malice Domestic Grants competition for new writers.
Joan has been an avid reader for as long as she can remember. She reads all kinds of books, including women’s fiction, mysteries, biography, and nonfiction. Mystery/suspense with a psychological twist is exactly the kind of book Joan loves to read.
"I write about characters who remind me of myself at times and my sister at times, but never fully so. My stories are told from a woman's point of view with a destiny. Characters drive my writing and my reading."
Having grown up in the South with a mother from Westchester County New York, Joan has a unique take on blending the Southern traditions with the eye of a Northerner. She spent most of her childhood in North Carolina and now resides in Athens, Georgia.
Author website: http://www.
Facebook Author page: http://www.facebook.com/
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Thanks for the great tips. Entering under the name of Virginia
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing my ideas on rejection (which all writers deal with). And for hosting me on this tour. I'll gladly interact wit your readers if they have questions or comments.
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