REJECTION

Being an expert on this (I have had more than my fair share of rejections) I feel quite comfortable commenting on this topic.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every piece of writing we created got accepted for publication? This could happen – maybe in some galaxy far far away, but on planet Earth this would be a very rare phenomena indeed!

Rejection is part of the writing process, and eventually we do learn to accept this and write on. But the question remains; why did this particular piece of writing get rejected?

These are some of the reasons I believe we need to consider:-

i)              A similar story/theme had already been published recently. (Resubmit your story in a few months)

ii)         The story submitted didn’t particularly suit the market it was sent to. Was the submission guidelines followed correctly – genre, presentation and word count? Do your research.

iii)    Be true to yourself. Have you created a piece of writing that you are proud of? Is the story the best that you can make it be? Sometimes even changing the view point from third person to first person can make a difference.

Rejection does not mean failure. In our world of writing supply exceeds the demand. Find your edge and make your piece of writing stand out. Recently I had a short story idea that I experimented with. I asked myself; what if I told this story on the perspective of both of my characters? It was something I hadn’t done before. I took a chance and challenged myself. On this occasion I was rewarded. I emailed that story, and it was accepted by That’s Life magazine on the same day!

Rejection will always be a part of writing and I accept that. I read my story out loud. I ask myself; does it flow? I acknowledge that if something doesn’t sound right to me, it won’t sound right to my reader. What I have learned over time is that I can minimise the rejections I receive, by giving my story the best possible chance in the first place!