So, I just got another rejection letter. Or, I havent gotten it, but I know it's coming. This thread is, in part , to keep myself from having a breakdown. I don't wanna get to personal, but suffice to say I know people in the publishing house. Editors at the publishing house have been overwhelmingly positive about my work and even asked me to send in my short story collection. So I did. This is the first time I've sent in something I've truly worked hard on. Three years of work. I'm kicking myself for listening to them. Six weeks after having sent them the MS my "friends" started to avoid me. When I finally cornered them they talked imcomprehensively about how they had been surprised that I sent the the MS so quickly and that they felt I should put more work into my writing. And that I should keep working no matter what happens now. Yeah, right. What they dont know is that I'm a recovering heroin addict with a lot of "issues". One of them being confidence. Most days of the week I can write maybe 20 min each day. The rest of the day I'm too depressed. (Not whining, that's how it is). However, after they had been giving me such good feedback I was able to write for hours every day. Now with the impending rejection letter I'm back to no minutes. I KNOW that if I had been published it would have given me the confidence to writer even better. (I know, I know that's not how it works). I'm just another bitter person feeling the world owes them something... It's sad. HOW am I supposed to cope? I need one positive. I cannot take more rejection in my life. Again, that's void, I know... But writing is everything to me, and yet I get rejected. Just like love, I love someone and they leave me. So I get bitter... It's endless circles... Sorry, that was a rant. I'm just another loser who thought he would be a writer. Reality check. I'm as low as I've been in years... all because I was dumb enough to think anything would work out in my life.
Getting kicked around a lot is part of the writer deal. Send it to a few dozen other publishers and get a few dozen more rejections. Maybe one will be an acceptance. Who can say? Such is the writer life. If you can't handle that right now you should focus on things other than writing or focus on writing things not for publication for the time being. As for coping, that's pretty personal. I cope by teaching my friends' dogs wrong commands so when their owners say "Sit" the dog will leap up and start humping their leg. Works for me.
Hi there, I'm sorry to hear about some of the issues you're going through in your life. All I can say is don't get too discouraged by the rejection letters re writing submissions. Rejection is part and parcel of the whole writing process. Many exceptional writers have been rejected numerous times and it is a normal thing in the business. The only thing you can do is use the rejection in a positive way to make yourself into a better writer. If you can get some feedback or pointers in the right direction, then you will have learned something from it. Keep the head up
You could write them back and tell the people who rejected you that they're idiots. They might be impressed by your chutzpah and decide to publish your fiery letters.
As down and out as you may feel, you're loads ahead of many of us. All I can say is congrats on having fine-tuned your work enough to make it even suitable for submission! That really is an amazing feat and I hope you are proud of yourself. Some day I hope to be far enough along to get bummed out by rejection letters because it'll mean I've actually accomplished more of the process to becoming a successful writer. Your 'failures' are not failures but rather further opportunities for growth that inspire the rest of us to keep on trying. Thanks for that.
At the moment it is hopeless to write. I have zero confidence. I'm pretty sure I'm done with writing for the next 365 days. I'm even angry that the script is currently with a "consultant" (which, they tried to impress me with is rare and only happens with 10 % of MS's) which means I'll get a little bit of feedback with my rejection letter. Which means eff all. Really. Just cushioning the blow.
Take a break for a few weeks. Relax and try not to think about it then return to your MS afresh and it won't seem so bad. You'll feel worse in the long run if you quit now.
if it helps any, publishers almost never take on a short story collection by unknown new writers, because there's no market for them... even ones by well known authors don't sell all that well, as most fiction buyers want novels and the short story has been falling farther out of favor for decades... if you'd like to have a mentor and get detailed feedback about the quality of your writing, i'll be happy to take a look at what you think is your best short story... love and 'don't-give-up!' hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
I wish I could show people the number of rejections I've had in my life from publishers, but they are becoming more and more electronic these days. And those are the ones that bother to respond at all! Rejection is nothing, it's their loss - think of it that way. The acceptances will come if you try hard enough, and are persistent. Just fight for it like a devil.
No, just tired ears. Heard that line too many times. You know what's funny? The other day I was thinking to myself: As a writer I need to turn my limitations into my parameters. Ok, so with youtube and Netflix and whatnot, the reader wants the writer to quit the bs and get to the story from line one. This is a good thing. Keep the writer on his toes. These days writers need to be both available, i.e. tell the story in a clear way, while _still_ maintaining a complex and rich story. Turn the negative into a positive. However(!) my original post fell on _your_ deaf ears! As I said, I'm aware all writers get rejected at first. I'm aware that's part and parcel - or whatever that line was - of the game. But my situation is that I can't take any more rejection. I need some encouragement to grow, because when all I get is rejection my confidence sinks and I can't write at all. I know... I know... "I'm a dainty, sensitive flower." But no! I'm not. I'm a guy who is at the end of his rope... a guy on the edge here... I need something to work out in my life. One thing. No one survives constant defeat. Look at the statistics. I'm in the right age group for it too.
I can sympathize with the way you feel. However, if you're looking for encouragement, I really don't think submitting a series of stories to a potential publisher is the way to go for it. As other people on this forum have said, it is SO hard to get accepted this way. Depending on publication to make you feel good about yourself is like saying: I keep buying lottery tickets but I never win so I'm a worthless human being. Getting published is a HUGE accomplishment, and a rarity to boot, not just an encouragement boost. You're certainly not a failure just because a publishing house turns you down. JK Rowling got turned down 12 times, before the DAUGHTER of the guy who eventually published her got hold of her MS, loved it, and persuaded her dad to take it on. While I'd say to definitely keep writing, if that's what you feel like doing, I'd start looking elsewhere for that encouragement boost you need. And pay attention to what your 'rejection' says. If they give you clues as to why they didn't accept your work, it might be a good idea to act on them. If they feel the stories were 'wrong' for the kind of books they publish, that is one thing. But if there are any other criticisms you could act on, it might be an idea to do so. After that, you could take over the publication reins yourself. You could format your stories and put them on Amazon for sale as an eBook. It doesn't cost you anything to do this. That way they're out there, and people just might pay you to read them. It won't likely be a huge amount, but then again very few people make a living as an author. You can design a cover, or get somebody else to design a cover for you. You can write your advertising blurb for the story, which is more or less what you'd put in a query letter. Once the stories are 'up' and available, you can look for ways to promote them. It's all stuff you can do, without waiting for somebody else's approval. I guarantee you'll feel encouraged when you've done this for yourself, and your writing is up there for sale.
Your attitude is all wrong here. Seriously, look back at your original post and you'll see it's dripping with self-pity. Why the hell do some people think the world owes them a living? You will have to earn absolutely everything you get in the writing process. Nothing will come easy, and it's the same for everybody. Its tough, no doubt, and I sympathise with you. You sound like you maybe need a break from writing if it's having such a negative affect on you. As one other member said, it's perhaps best to look elsewhere for a confidence boost, something to pick you up a bit. Submitting things to publishers is very unforgiving, but that's just the way it is. I feel for you, send me a PM if you want to chat about it
I don't think you want to try and pin your self esteem on whether someone will publish your anthology of short stories. You sound quite depressed and as you have intimated you are considering suicide I can only urge you to go and see a doctor immediately. Your writing goals will not fix your problems even if you achieve them. And if you want to avoid rejection you have picked pretty much the worst industry imaginable to do so.
Writing is like any art where you put heart and soul into something you believe in. When you get a rejection it's as personal as being jilted by a lover, or marginalised by a friend or friends. I have no idea whether you will make it as a published author. No one does, not you, not your friends or family ... Hell, sometimes not even the agents who may one day represent you. Being published is about being good at what you do, but it's also about luck and more importantly, perseverance. In almost every success, you will find a pile of rejections because that's what an aspriring writer's life is: rejection, followed by a lesson, followed by an emotional callous, that toughens you against rejection rather like a guitar player's fingers. Then you begin to see only what is constructive about a rejection, taking on the advice and honing your art. As for your circumstances, I feel for anyone who can't do the thing they love because of mental health reasons, substance misuse or general circumstances of life. But in those cases it won't matter who tells you to keep trying because the only one you'll really listen to, is yourself. You need to remind yourself just why you were writing in the first place. If it was for the love of the craft, the enjoyment of telling stories and spending hours and days fashioning new worlds and the people that populate them, then you have a good enough reason to continue, and fcuk those who say you don't. But ... If your reason to write was only to be published, either for money or because by being published would give you self-worth, then without being overly brutal, it might be better if you did stop. That road is a more brutal one that my last sentence. Much more brutal. You will have your spirit broken repeatedly by those in the business and even those who aren't - because they think they know better. One of the few weapons at your disposal to protect your spirit from all that rejection, will be your love for the writing itself; that you enjoy it (and fcuk those who say you don't) and you would do it even if you weren't one day published. Without that reason you will need the mental resolve of marathon runner to overcome each rejection, or you will crash.
Try submitting the shorts to e-zines. Or maybe just self publish. It all depends on what you want your goal to be. Some people just want to be read, others want to build a career. Rejection stings but it's a normal way of life for a writer, no matter whether you're published or not. Because they'll always be a percentage of readers that just don't get or like your work.
Not sure what kind of encouragement you want from internet strangers that will actually mean something to you. Can't expect too much from internet strangers.
Thanks for all the replies. I'll try and reply more after easter. But: Pity? Yes. But no, I don't think the world "owes" me anything, but I AM one of those people who have had so much rejection that it has started to have permanent effects on me. Negative effects. "Things just went wrong too many times" as Tony Hancock wrote in his suicide letter. I've been in therapy 11 years and it comes down to this: I need confidence. Rejection - rejection at the ONE thing that matters - is very difficult to deal with. How long must I wait? Truth be told: I wanted to publish something while my "poor ageing mother" is still alive so I can prove that I am not the f**k-up she's always told me I am. But let me guess your replies: "That's has nothing to do with it."; "You can't publish on sympathy."; "Nobody cares"; "What matters is your work"; "It's tough, deal with it" etc. Yeah yeah yeah Happy easter.
