IT'S A BIG BOAT

I thought I was in a little row boat lost in rough seas – all alone – no life jacket. I felt like I was sinking in my disappointment and despair and it was only a matter of time before I was drowning in all those rejections BUT then I read some blogs and got a few emails. I’m not in a little row boat at all; I’m on an ocean liner! There are a lot of us in the same boat.

There are many writers expressing my own concerns:- the amount of rejections must be some kind of record, long time between acceptances, I’m feeling inspired and think I’m writing well but not a crumb of good news or a hint of some hope.

I am finding that reading how other writers deal with rejection is motivating – even the simple fact that other writers experience rejection and go through the emotions of being deflated as they question their abilities and wonder whether they will ever sell another piece of writing is comforting to me (to know I am not alone) and makes me more aware that rejection is part of the process of writing – perhaps it is what sorts out the real writers from the wannabes? I’m thinking rejection is what makes us question how we can do things better and eventually this is what makes us become better writers.

So if it’s been a long time between published stories climb on board, and as we cruise along we will become better writers and sometime soon that island of acceptance will appear on the horizon.

Keep on writing….

REJECTION IS RIFE BUT ....

As optimistic as I try to be (I'm one of those people who strive on turning a negative into a positive) the last couple of days have been a true tester of my resilience. Not one, two or three, but eight story rejections! That has to be some kind of record - perhaps that is the positive? I don't think so.

The increase in writers and the dwindling of magazines publishing stories is making it increasingly difficult to secure that elusive acceptance. What are the options?

Option 1 - Accept that the battle is already lost and hang up the pen. This option I would prefer other writers to take, which in theory should reduce the supply of stories therefore increasing the demand for my stories (laughing).

Option 2 - Focus on giving my stories the edge. Write to create a story which stands out from the rest, for all the right reasons. Revise and edit until I am true to myself and know it is a publishable story. Resubmit my stories. As I remember it was only a couple of weeks ago the same story I sent three times to the same publisher  was finally accepted, there is a glimmer of hope.

I choose Option 2.

So, in conclusion, I will continue to be optimistic and I will turn this negative into a positive by using those rejections to challenge myself to become a better writer.

At the end of the day, despite the dwindling short story market and the mountain of rejections, I know what I want - I want to write!

Keep on writing ....

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!