Rejection--Rising Above It

"Your submission was well received here but after some thought we have elected not to purchase it for publication."

Words like these have to power to frustrate and confuse struggling writers. We find ourselves thinking: Well, for Pete's sake, if the thing was so well received, how come they didn't publish it? Are they just softening the blow or did they really think the work had merit?

We already know why we put ourselves in the line of fire. As Beethoven once said, "You can't quit music." Similarly, writers are compelled to write. Our inner drive to create is the spark that keeps us at our keyboards. It makes us slightly eccentric, contributes to the odd hours we keep, and shapes a life philosophy that other people find hard to relate to: while they are busy making money, we spend our time making up stories.

The creative urge keeps us sane through re-writes, editing, files that mysteriously disappear, computer crashes, others' skepticism (I remember telling a neighbor I was a writer and her saying, "That's a nice hobby. What did you say you did for work?"), and worst of all . . . rejection letters.

I'm sure most of us have felt like throwing in the towel . . . or a least giving it a good thrashing (at times we are tempted to do this to the editors who reject our masterpieces). But we persevere, jotting down our ideas, plots, and stories. Why?

If we are honest, we'll admit that deep down, under the layers of self-doubt and the struggles with confidence, way down, there's an unshakable belief we have something special to offer to the world. Beethoven knew it. He said, "I was conscious of being inspired by God Almighty."

Like all artists, we are compelled to offer our inspiration to fellow humans. We somehow know this is our destiny, our reason for being.

L. M. Montgomery dusted off the manuscript for Anne of Green Gables (her first and most famous novel) after finding it in a hat box. She'd written it three years earlier, then tucked it away in despair after it had been rejected repeatedly. When she found the manuscript again, she read it and revised it. She must have known it had value.

She submitted it to the L.C. Page Company, a Boston, Massachusetts, publishing firm. To her surprise and relief, they accepted it. The book was a bestseller from the moment it was published in June 1908 and marked Montgomery's career as a novelist. Readers have been inspired and touched by her Anne stories ever since.

What would have happened if Lucy Maude had allowed her belief in herself to be shaken, if she'd discarded the Anne manuscript and deprived so many of the joy and wonder of a red-headed orphan girl who intuitively knew and taught that happiness springs from each person's own fountainhead?

Rejection, if we allow it to, makes us more determined, reinforces the belief we have in ourselves and in our writing, forces us to scrutinize words we see through rose-colored glasses of first love and polish them to near perfection. It impels us to hone our craft.

If we remember this, we can cope with rejection and rise above it . . . like cream that rises to the top.

Further Reading

• Write Internet Articles: Rinse, Recycle, Repeart . . . Sans Hammy the Hampster

• Five Article Method: A Hands-On Tutorial

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