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Rejection: We All Must Deal

© Kelli Brooke Haywood

1. Remember your manuscript is one of thousands and thousands received by the editors of the particular journal.

2. Acknowledge the fact that at least your manuscript was polished and mistake free unlike most manuscripts received by prominent literary journals.

3. We all must start somewhere.

4. If you truly feel you piece is worthwhile and polished there is a home for it somewhere.

5. You are taking responsibility for promoting your own work. At least you are doing something with your talent/craft.

6. It takes an average of 25 mailings for a good manuscript to find its rightful home.

These are six facts that help me deal with getting the piles of rejection letters that are building up in my mailbox even now. Rejection is a reality for every artist. In the writing world, there are vast amounts of people in all different stages of their writing career scrambling to see their work in print. There are far more people submitting then are getting accepted. It's just fact.

So, how do we deal with the frustration (for some of us depression) that goes along with this fact. I have found that if I keep a positive attitude, believe in my ability as a writer of fiction, know that when the time is right my work will be in print, realize that this is not my income source (yet), and remember the six facts in the opening of this article, then rejection can be a simple thing to deal with. Rejection does not mean that I am a bad writer. I have revised and rewritten my manuscripts. So, I know they have a good plot structure, they are relevant, and have interesting characters. I have made them free of typos. I put everything I have into my stories. I just haven't found the right editor yet.

In the Nov/Dec 2000 issue of Poets & Writers magazine, there was a very humorous, yet true, article by the novelist Sally Bellerose about how she deals with rejection. "Layer of rejection covered by layer of garbage, a pitchfork of grass clippings followed by a spade of leaf mold, a layer of manure, a cup of lime. I've used this recipe to make compost for years" (60). Creative Composting: Zen and the Art of Rejection, opens with this recipe for compost that uses rejection letters as a staple ingredient in production. Bellerose turns her rejection into something that will fertilize her garden. She goes on to tell how when she was rejected for the Bellwether Prize she turned her whole compost pile in attempt to deal with her frustration. She did what worked for her. To me, it sounds great.