Handling Rejection

I am sure I have posted about this before and......I am sure I will again. This has to be the most difficult issue we face as aspiring writers and it does not get any easier. A rejection, no matter how polite and sincere, is a heartwrenching, ego shattering, dark pit of despair inducing problem that we must overcome. Each one makes us doubt ourselves all over again. Are we any good? Are we wasting time on something that will never see the light of day? Have we invested our heart and soul in a dream that has no chance of happening? Here is a depressing little ditty I wrote in celebration of my latest rejection.

Into my inbox landed,
the lastest reply so candid.
I thought I was above it.
But here I sit,
in dark dejection,
awaiting yet another rejection.

So what do you do, you ask?
My wise and awe inspiring advise is this.....GET OVER IT.

You heard me. Not everyone is going to like what you write. If your reading Agent blogs then you know that sometimes it is just a matter of taste. If you aren't reading Agent and Publishing blogs, then that might be your problem. Be Informed. Ask yourself some hard questions. Is this the best you can do? Think that over and be honest about it. Is this the very best you can do? If it is then you have to decide just what this writing dream means to you. How badly do you want it? Do you daydream about it? Do you wake up each morning and go to sleep every night thinking about it? Because your going to need to want it pretty badly to achieve it, now more than ever. The standards have been raised and the budgets lowered in this industry.

So get over that latest rejection and get busy on the next great American novel. Remember J.K. Rowling and many other great writers were rejected several times before they were published. Did you really think you wouldn't be?

Enough wallowing.....get to work.