Into the Fire

Passionate thoughts about the world of writing and the Power of God

recent posts

about

Passionate: right or wrong. Writes love stories with a passion. Raw Romantic Redemptive

The Art of Rejection

 

                 12890898779g74uq

 

If you haven’t faced rejection, you haven’t lived.

 

Is there an art to handling it well? Rejections come in so many forms. Getting let down easy (which should really be “easily” for all you grammar freaks). Abruptly. Cruelly. Regretfully. Sweetly.

 

The art of the rejection process comes in the reaction to rejection. We in the writing nonsense – wait, I mean business – usually don’t have to endure all of our rejections in the public eye. So we can scream obscenities, cry for hours, rant and rave and throw books, or elect to do whatever we choose from the menu of the intolerable results to our lifelong dreams being devastated, disposed of, puked on, or slashed like new tires in a bad neighborhood.

 

Personally speaking, I haven’t mastered the art of rejection. Nope. Not even close. My not-so-perfect retort to past rejections has been to eliminate the possibilities of receiving more of them. Works perfectly. Don’t apply for them – or for reinforcement – and you won’t receive them. Simple.

 

However . . . you know what that means.

 

 

 

Lord, what can I say? I’m desperate for you. Always. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Posted in

4 responses to “The Art of Rejection”

  1. BK Jackson Avatar
    BK Jackson

    Well my one and only rejection was no big deal. In 2010 the full manuscript for my Genesis entry was requested by one of the editor/judges.
    But I knew before I sent it she would reject it because it wasn’t romance (that house doesn’t do anything BUT romance), and they only want romance even though I was entered in the N-O-N (I wish I could make those letters bigger!)romance category.
    The editor was brief but most kind in her rejection.
    What was harder was after–the astonished looks from other writers and the inquiry “You didn’t change the story to meet their needs?”
    Uh–no.
    Willing to eliminate a secondary character? Strengthen one aspect of plot a little here, tweak there? Yes.
    Change the heart of my story? NO.
    Then came the sage wisdom from some “You don’t want to be seen as hard to work with.” Nicely put of course.
    Why should I be considered hard to work with if I won’t let someone else change the HEART of MY story?
    I don’t mind rejection. I’ll take my lumps if my characters aren’t strong enough, if the story isn’t interesting enough, etc. I’ll keep re-writing until my characters and story are so compelling people can for once put aside their romance blinders and appreciate another type of story.
    But when people reject my story, I want it to be rejected on the basis of what it is, not something that it was never intended to be. Especially given that submissions are usually accompanied by a query letter, and unless you write the worst query letters ever, the reader KNOWS what type of story it is before they get started.
    I will actually look forward to getting critical rejections on future submissions as long as they don’t include the phrase “but it’s not a romance”.
    Well duh.

    Like

    Reply
  2. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    And I say: Bravo, Brenda!

    Like

    Reply
  3. Brenda Anderson Avatar
    Brenda Anderson

    Oh, I’ve been blessed with many rejections. 😉 One way I deal with it is based on my background in direct sales. One of our goals established by the company was to collect 100 “no’s”, the theory being that along the way we’d collect a few yes’s. I’ve applied that to my writing goal. I want to collect 100 no’s (I’m about 1/3 of the way there) because chances are, along the way, I’ll finally get that Yes!

    Like

    Reply
  4. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    Interesting concept, Bren. 😉
    And I look for you getting a yes before too many more no’s.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment