It definitely ties in to burnout. When I read/research about burnout, caregiver burnout from situations like the ones you describe is the kind I see the most literature about.
Thanks. I don't really see myself as tough. I try to be and not let rejection get to me. Sometimes it does and I vent here about it or private messages to some of you that I totally suck and I'm quitting writing forever. True story from about a month ago. It's hard. And I think it's hard in general not to fall apart sometimes, let alone if it involves trying your best and failing. I took the approach of learning to write to that level because I sure wasn't there when I started. I've learned to write better because everything I wrote was getting rejected. And I read a lot of these journals and magazines and really thought about what kind of stories they are publishing. I wanted to be part of that conversation. I listened. And I've gotten a few words in.
It's a glass half empty/half full way of looking at things. Call me Pollyanna, but I tend to look at the bright side of things.
The way you look at the situation has nothing to do with the number of times a writer gets rejected. It comes down to quality of work and timing.
welp I'm out. Just trying to throw a bit of cheer around. Is there a way to turn off notifications for a thread so I don't have to look at it?
@graveleye -- I am sorry for the way I came across and for being dismissive when you were trying to help. This is a tough business, maybe tougher than you realize. Rejections might give us thinker skin, but they really don't bring us closer to publication. I've been told on this thread before that it's my bad attitude or whatever getting me rejected, but these publications are crazy hard to get into. This is years and years of work with limited success, but it is me trying and writing all the time. I am better than when I started. I have been published. But this doesn't stop being hard. I think it's probably hard to understand rejection on this level without going through it. And, perhaps, it has made me a bit jaded. I did send you an apology through direct message, but if you've blocked me, I don't know if you will see that or this. Sorry.
Rejected on the rejection thread. I'm doing so well at writing and life. Sorry again for pissing people off.
I was going to say all this in a PM but maybe others will benefit from my thoughts on the subject. I've mentioned ad nauseam that I'm first and foremost a songwriter, and although I have been writing prose (and poetry) since I can remember, this is my first foray into novel writing. If I'm boring anyone, feel free to check out now. I have no misconceptions about how tough this business can be, and in fact, I've probably been on more of a dismal roller coaster than most. Maybe I have achieved the thickest skin an artist can acquire. In college I studied the most ridiculous "major" ever known to higher education: Commercial Music. Nineteen years old and disillusioned, I had a professor advise me to stick with it because he felt I had talent. "The ones who don't make it are the ones who give up," he said, and I believed him. It makes sense right? So for 34 more years, I've kept my nose to the grindstone, burning all the midnight oil, and working crap jobs as a life support system for the success I knew was coming. It never came. Oh sure, I found my niche as an unknown audio engineer and I have a few trophies to show for it. Although I still actively write and create my own music, I've spent way more time working on others peoples art, then sending them out so they can have their moments of fame. I remain in the background. Now I'm old, and I don't know what else to do. This is all I know. All that I am on earth for is to just keep plugging away at it. Frustrating? Sure, it eats at me, sometimes all day long (I am sitting at my meaningless job, right this moment, typing this, wishing I was home making music or working on the sequel to my book, or just gazing out the window imagining something). If there is anyone in the world that has a right to be angry about the lot cast, it is me. Oh, and believe me, I've run the gamut of negative emotions for over three decades and it got me exactly nowhere. This is why I started writing. I hope to somehow turn this failure to achieve my ambitions into a compelling story. I believe in my creations, and I'm counting on my very first query to be accepted. If it is rejected, then the second is sure to come through for me. If that one doesn't, then there is the next one, and the next one, and the next one. Each one is closer to acceptance. It has to be. I don't know any other way about it. It's all I know. I can't be angry about it. I was given this talent and the desire to hone it, and I knew the risks when I accepted it. I'm happy to have been chosen. If it never happens, then I'll die trying. You were all chosen too. You have a gift, and I will always continue to encourage all of you to just keep at it. Don't give up, ever. AMEN.
What annoys me most - is that the older I get - I tend to engage with pretty much every 'asshole' I meet. Not only do I say 'hello' to ninety people on the journey to work, saying 'hello/hi/eeja...' kind of thing - from my bicycle seat - but then later - in my working life as some kind of evangelical sickly pudding I stick my nose into everything, then think it's all such goodness material for my manuscripts. All such jolly memoir. People like me should be gassed, worse than politicians, almost. 'Writers' should have absolutely no engagement with society. I'm never reading a memoir again, 'some prick,' or anything based on reality. Fantasy is the future, you know it, fools, and on...
Oh, Mat, you're such a nutter. There do seem to be quite a few assholes around these days, or perhaps there were all along and we just never knew.
A friend sent me an essay by a writer who tried to get 100 rejections in a year. She failed. This wasn't the first essay I've seen on this trying to get 100 rejections in a year thing. Perhaps, it's somewhat of an accomplishment to get 100 rejections in a year. I mean I did have to write all those things that were rejected. In the past 12 months I do believe I have written my best stuff and there were some sales along the way, though not many. The real accomplishment is obviously the work I've had published, but I have had to really push myself and put myself out there. In the end it was worth it.
Wishing everyone a rejection-free weekend. No good news seems to come on the weekend so here's hoping for some empty inboxes.
Made it through the weekend. Now that those editors are back at work I'm hoping I can win some over. Someone publish me!!!
This was my last rejection on Aug. 14. That's ten days, baby! I feel like this thread has been super dead. Hopefully that's because no one is being rejected.
I'm thinking of submitting to this contest put on by The Missouri Review. It has an entry fee of $25 dollars, but that comes with a year-long digital subscription and a copy of a collection from previous winners, which is kind of a good deal for the money. AND (!), the prize is $5,000. I know I probably won't win, but I can dream. Also, all entries are considered for publication.
I like The Missouri Review. I had a subscription for about two years or so. If you're getting a subscription, it's totally worth it. And if you're thinking of sending in the story I just read from you, I would say you have a real shot. Go for it!
Yes, it has been another weekend without rejection. I'm sort of on this silence streak and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. I could get a lot of good news or a lot of bad news at any moment. I'm due (past due) for some news. Still sending out new work all the time. I'm not just waiting around. But there are places that take so long it gets my hopes up and makes me a little bonkers.
Got a tough one today, guys. The rejection said I made it to the final round. The good news is that the place didn’t allow simultaneous submissions, so now I can send it out to other places.
