Dealing with rejection as a writer or creative person is not fun.
Regardless of whether you are a writer, blogger, actor, singer, painter, or some other creative type, you need to learn how to deal with rejection.
I remember one particular rejection that got me thinking. Collecting my mail, I spotted the logo for our local council on one of the envelopes. My first thought – rates bill. It turned out to be something completely different.
It was a politely worded rejection letter, my fourth year in a row from that organisation.
The rejection letter was for a short story competition. It was a collection of short stories that would be made into a book. I desperately wanted my story to win. I did not win.
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Here is what I learned by dealing with rejection as a writer-creative person.
Don’t take it personally
Okay, I know this one is hard. You read the rejection letter, and you assume your work sucks. It feels very personal at the time.
With the first competition I entered, I bought the book of winning entries. Some of the stories were excellent. One was so touching and well written it nearly brought me to tears, which was a bit embarrassing as I was on a public bus heading to work at the time.
Other stories I considered good, but I didn’t like the winning story at all. I couldn’t understand how it had won. The judges obviously held a different view. Like movies and novels, short stories are subjective. One person’s box office hit is another person’s dud.
That experience of not liking all the short stories helped me understand it wasn’t personal.
Related post – 5 Ways to Stop Taking Things Personally
Rejection is part of the business
If I have learnt anything from the piles of writing books and blogs I have read is that rejection is part of being a writer. Rejection is part of being a creative person.
More accurately, rejection is part of life whether we like it or not.
Writing (like so many other things in life) is a numbers game. Everyone has heard the stories of now-famous authors who were repeatedly rejected before someone finally said yes, and they were launched into mega stardom.
As a writer, these tales are both inspiring and somewhat scary since no one wants to initially be that person who is continuously rejected.
Books that can help you as a writer or creator –
- Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
- Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon
A rejection is better than no response at all
A lot of the time, there is no letter. There is no feedback – nothing. You send something out into the world, and you never get a response.
Despite that, you have to move on and keep producing new and exciting work. You have to keep creating.
That is your only option since most of the time, you won’t hear anything.
Check out your competition
With the book of winning short stories I mentioned above, the first thing I read before the stories themselves was the winners’ bios.
I wanted to know if these people had been published before or were new writers like myself? Did they have writing degrees? As it turned out, some were experienced, and some were new to writing (like me), which was a positive.
It can be daunting knowing you are up against experienced professionals – but remember they were beginners once too.
Don’t sulk
Did I feel disappointed reading the rejection letter? I won’t lie, for a brief moment I felt totally deflated.
I was disappointed.
Did I have an ‘it should have been me’ moment? I’m human, so yes, I did. The good news is it passed quickly.
Try not to linger on negative thoughts. Negativity could impact you the next time you sit down to create or may hinder your creative process altogether. Instead, concentrate on your next project.
Related post – How to Overcome Feelings of That Should Have Been Me
Think of ways to improve
Look at your work again. What improvements can you make?
Does your work need a complete overhaul or some simple changes? Focus on making it a better piece of work.
I do this with my blog posts all the time; I am constantly updating them to make them better.
Look for ways to repurpose your work
Look for ways to repurpose your work (after revisions naturally). Could you make changes to your work to suit another market?
With blogging, I sometimes forget about my drafts/brainstorming file. I sometimes forget where I can use work that I have started but not finished. Often, without realizing it, you can have a huge amount of untapped work to call upon to repurpose in another direction.
You don’t have to keep reinventing the wheel when it comes to your creativity.
If nothing jumps out at you straight away, don’t worry; hold onto the project until an opportunity comes along.
Related post – 30 Affirmations for Creatives to Help Boost Creativity
Don’t give up
After I received my rejection letter, I was shortlisted for another short story competition. Unfortunately, I didn’t win the main prize, but it didn’t matter. Being shortlisted gave me a huge confidence boost. 🙂
More than ever, I was determined not to give up on my writing and blogging dreams.
When you love doing something, when you love creating, you have to keep going and keep doing your best. You need to keep pushing and moving forward.
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