My Brief Moment of Wanting to Crawl Into the Fetal Position

It's funny, how I can be told over and over how magnificent and marvelous my writing is, and how it can cure cancer and turn mosquitoes into gold, but one small rejection or criticism can cause me to run to the corner to cry or start to doubt if this is what I should be doing. This is doubt that comes after making money from satisfied clients for several months.

I'd like to think it is just the starting out jitters of a new writer. I'd like to believe that after a few years I'll harden to such rejection or be able to easily gain perspective. I know the reality is that rejection will always end up being a ninja fire kick to the groin.

But no matter how harsh and dejecting rejection or criticism can be, it is a reality of the business. You're going to have clients completely unsatisfied with your work or an editor who turns down your proposal. You'll definitely have editors sending back a manuscripts that needs some revisions.

It is just how the writing business works. So, you accept the criticisms or suggestions, and then you move on with life. Maybe you eat an extra bowl of ice cream to wash down the sting to the ego. But in the end, you remind yourself that writing is an incredibly subjective thing and one person's heaping pile of trash is another person's golden ticket.

As you likely could have guessed from yesterday's post, a certain piece of work didn't exactly go my way. It was work that I thought was pretty good, but it didn't get the vote of confidence from the person who was paying for it.

Any time I end up with a situation like this, I remind myself that even the writers who make millions tell you that rejection is something every one experiences. Even them. And it likely sucks every time, even though they know they have a long record of making money.

So, if you want to be a career writer then you need to accept that rejection will come. Hopefully, you'll have it balanced out with a lot of acceptance. The thing you need to remember is if someone is willing to actually give you money for your writing, then you must have talent or something worth selling.

So, learn from the losses and rejections, but hold on to and remember the victories (and the sweet spoils that come with it).