How to Survive Literary Rejection Letters
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How to Survive Literary Rejection Letters
Introduction
There's a little writer in a lot of us, secretly strutting our stuff on the page. So when we take the plunge and send off our labor of literary love, it can be tough when that self-addressed-stamped-envelope comes back with an impersonal a??no.a?? Consider these survival strategies the next time your manuscript comes back in the mail.
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderate
Steps
1
Step One
Remind yourself that editors are human too and that literary opinions are subjective. One editor's trash is another editor's treasure.
2
Step Two
Submit it again promptly to another editor, the same day if possible, to keep your momentum going and your hope intact.
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Step Three
If the rejection letter was personalized, calmly consider the comments. If they are inflammatory (a??this submission sucksa??), burn the letter in effigy, chanting the name of the editor to incite the gods. If the comments are constructive (a??the lead character was unlikablea??), try to take the comments in context, instead of internalizing them and obsessing on the fact that the lead character is based on you.
4
Step Four
Leap back into a literary work in progress, or begin a new one. Nothing restores faith in creativity like creating.
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Step Five
If you are devastated by the rejection letter and suffering from instant literary paralysis, know that you are not experiencing true writer's block, only temporary rejectional dysfunction. Wallow in it: be sad, be mad, be blue, eat a lot of cake, then get up the next day, drink a cup of coffee and write something.
6
Step Six
If the rejection letter still exists, paste it on the wall above your writing space as a sign that you are a real writer doing the things that real writers do, like getting rejected, making submissions and continuing to try even when facing rejection. Continue to paste other rejection letters up as they come. It will be a visual sign that you are persistent and take yourself seriously as a writer.
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Step Seven
If the blues persist, make excuses for the rejection: the editor read a similar work that morning, the editor's wife is divorcing him, the editor is fighting cancer and can barely read due to chemotherapy sickness, the editor has a personal grudge against people with your name or the editor was jealous of your obvious talent. Devise your own delusions, you are a writer!
Tips & Warnings
- Getting back in the saddle is essential to success. Many a writer has been arrested early in his or her literary career due to a badly-timed rejection letter and a fragile ego.
- The life of a writer is lonely enough, since it is a solitary occupation. Don't keep your disappointment to yourself when it comes in the mail. Sharing your passion, your joys, your disappointments can keep you sane and on task.
- During the devastation stage, guard against spontaneous bursts of retribution against offending editors. Letter bombs prove nothing about your literary talent.
- Cake won't heal a broken heart, especially if eaten every day, but neither will it get you thrown out of a bar. Choose your sorry self-indulgences carefully. The stereotypical whisky drinking of writers can cause social lapses, brain damage, divorce and bad teeth. Consider alternative escapes into self-pity, and keep them short.
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