Dealing With Rejection as a Writer: Just Roll With It
It’s all gravy baby!
I’ve had a few writing rejections recently, both here at Medium and elsewhere.
When something I have worked hard on and believed in enough to submit to a publication or literary journal is rejected it is not something I historically take lightly.
I am striving for eventually reaching a place where these setbacks roll right off of me. Admittedly at the moment I don’t produce or submit enough (especially offsite) for some part of my writer’s ego not to get wounded when my work is rejected.
I think perhaps the more work you put out the less you have riding on any given piece. I am especially grateful for the advice and encouragement I received from Heather Pegas recently. Her own accomplishments being published were down to serious diligence, dealing with multiple rejections and never giving up.
My natural instinct in the past would be to stew, to self-berate, to say what was I thinking trying to be a real writer, or how stupid I was to submit something that didn’t work out with a particular publication for whatever reason.
Maybe it’s the past couple of years writing on Medium, or just writing more regularly generally, but I am choosing to not internalize this stuff too much anymore.
