Rejection letters ain’t so bad

Rejection letters.

If you’re a writer, aspiring writer, wannabe writer, whatever writer, you’re going to deal with them. I don’t care how good you think you are, you will. That’s just reality. But here’s the thing: They need not be painful. Not even a little.

Rejection letters are many things, chief among them something no writer likes to get, but they are more than a necessary evil. They are a sign that you’re an active writer. Proof that you’re actually writing, not just talking about writing.

I mean, let’s face it, how many so-called “writers” do you know who never actually write? For every person who puts pens to paper or fingers to keyboard, there are a dozen of these talkers, people who like the idea of being a writer but never actually get off their ass and do it. What little they do is dabbling, little bits of unfinished stuff no one in the world ever sees because “it’s not finished yet” or some such excuse. Rarely anything of substance.

If you’re getting rejection letters, it means you’re not one of those people. It means you’re writing. Working. Getting your material out there. Doing the hard work of actually pursuing your dream rather than just talking about it.

So the next time you get a rejection letter, think about that. Realize what that letter signifies and take pride in the fact that you’re not sitting around daydreaming about how cool it would be to write, you’re actually WRITING.

3 Comments

  1. Librarian Lee

    This was a good one Eric. Nice way to re-frame, as they say. Also, you can be a little big Zig Ziglar about it and say that each no gets you closer to yes 🙂

    Reply
  2. admin

    Thanks, Lee. It felt a bit odd at first, looking at rejection this way, until I realized all those years of *not* getting rejection letters was only because I WASN’T WRITING!

    I like the idea that each no gets you closer to a yes!

    (Epoch said not to me today. Off to another journal!)

    Reply
  3. Pingback: Sometimes they say yes (aka Eric “sells” a story) – ERIC SAN JUAN

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