Thursday, March 27, 2008

Towns guide on how to handle rejection for dummies

Musings from Towns What is rejection really? Ahirah and myself just received another rejection letter for a short story that we'd entered to an E publisher. Ahirah didn’t take it very well at first. She did what comes natural to most of us. She became very discouraged. I on the other hand saw the bright side of it all. I've been rejected in many facets of my life. Finding out I didn’t make it into the college of my dreams or that my high school crush didn’t even know I existed. Through it all I’ve always bounced back. Just because someone rejects you doesn’t always mean that there is something wrong with you. Sometimes you are just not right for them at that time. But despite all of that not even published authors are perfect. I can’t tell you how many times I read a novel and found simple spelling errors. We all have to strive to be better whether we're at the top of our game or just beginning. We all must learn to find the good in everything, because every dog has its day and DAMN IT… Ahirah Towns will be published one day!!!

7 comments:

Tabitha Shay said...

Rejection from any publisher isn't anything new for authors, we've all had them and yes, they can be very discouraging, especially when they don't tell you what you did wrong so you can fix it. Personally,I hate standard letters of rejection, they are purely useless for the struggling author. The best advice I can give you and you seem to already have, is the determination to keep on trying, polish your work because you know there was something not right about it...and resub it elsewhere, enter contests, you will get great feedback from the judges, or at least, you should...join a good critique group, most of the groups have some published authors who can and will be of help to you if you follow their guidance and remember, be willing to make changes to your manuscript...Good luck, Tabitha Shay

Kate Douglas said...

Ah, the tender sensibilities of youth. *grin* From an old broad, here. First, they are not rejecting YOU. They are rejecting a particular piece of work you and your writing partner have submitted. Second, look at the rejection. Is it a form letter? Toss it. Does it give any hints of why the work was rejected? If so, think about it. Are the comments right? Are you too close to the work to see the faults as clearly as you should? What about technical aspects? Were there any typos or grammatical errors in the submission? That's a major red flag and, unless the submission is absolutely mind-bogglingly good otherwise, sure to get it tossed. I had twenty years of rejection before I finally sold my first story in NY. If I'd gotten depressed and given up, I wouldn't be starting the fifteenth story in a series of contracts for eighteen books. My advice: keep submitting, learn to deal with the rejections as a professional and learn from them, keep honing your craft and always try to do better than what you wrote before. Writers never stop learning, not if they want to be successful. Strengthen your voice and write from the heart. When you finally sell, you'll know you truly earned that spot as a published author.

Koko Brown said...

Cheer up! Rejection doesn't stop even when you do become published. For there are tons of multi-published authors who are rejected by their own publishing houses! It makes you stronger and you appreciate it when you do get that call!

Ahirah Towns said...

Thanks Ladies,

All great advice. Since you're all published writers I'm going to listen and take your advice in the matter. When I go back and read my two stories over that I submitted I have to cringe because I found errors. Even when you think its perfect you still find little thing. I guess it's back to the drawing board for me.

I'm not gonna give up, only get thicker skin!

shhhhh... everybody sleeping! said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
shhhhh... everybody sleeping! said...

Hey (waving to ya`) I'm saying congratz! before the before if you get my drift. One door close another will open. I like your atttitude, its a good one to have from what I gather in the publishing industry. I know it can be discouraging at times especially when you think that your story is one worth reading as well as having it published. I'm traveling down the same path as you two... yall seem to balance each other out. I'll come back to get an updated on your writing progress, wishing you much success!

Ahirah Towns said...

Thanks Everybody Sleeping. We do try and have a positive attitude especially when it comes to writing and this business. Of course we are human and you know how that goes. Thanks for the comment and hope to hear from you soon.