Two-Fifty Tuesday: Rejection

The Writing World’s Dirty Little Secret

Rejection sucks. It’s the dirty little secret of the writing world. Oh yes, it is, despite the fact that everyone knows rejection is a horrible, frustrating, inevitable part of the writing life. 

Because the secret is what we hide about rejection: how much it hurts. 

The agents or editors (the ones who do respond) tell you it’s not personal. And it’s not—on their end. But it feels personal, doesn’t it? You pour your heart and soul into your writing and then it takes an enormous amount of courage to send your darlings—your words, your characters—out into the world. Only to have other people say they’re not good enough? 

It’s not what they said, of course. Your story, your characters may very well be good enough—just not for those particular agents or editors at that particular time. But it doesn’t ease the blow any less, right? So why do we pretend it does? Why do we brush off the hurt and disappointment? We tell ourselves to suck it up. It’s part of the gig. We signed up for it. All true, absolutely, but why can’t we also admit that it’s hard and it hurts? 

So yes, I’ll be persistent and yes, I won’t give up, and yes, I’ll weather the rejections, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. And that doesn’t mean I have to pretend that I do.

Because, as I said, rejection sucks.