A Note on Rejection a.k.a. A Writing Life

I saw a friend last weekend who had just embarked on trying to find her first agent. I was reminded that to survive life as a writer you really have to totally change the way you look at rejection. You have to start looking at rejection as a necessary prerequisite–something you must go through in order to reach your goals. Like until you get out there and start getting rejected all you’re doing is running in place. You’re not even in the game.  

And when I say rejection, I mean A LOT of rejection. I had 4 novels rejected by publishers before I sold my first. And those earlier books were rejected by literally scores of agents–maybe even hundreds. And let’s not even get into the volume of my stories which were dispensed by form slips from literary journals or the MFA programs that turned me away. 

I am not the only published author to say as much. Most writers have similar tales. But I think sometimes aspiring writers think published authors mean that they were rejected a couple times before success rained down. Not. Even. Close.

That is true from some writers, of course. Some really wonderful ones. They publish the first book they ever wrote to great acclaim. And you know what? Awesome for them. But that’s not typical. It also doesn’t necessarily mean those writers are better or worse than another with a far bumpier trail.

My favorite piece of all time on the subject is Malcolm Gladwell writing about the Cezanne’s and Picasso’s of the world. When I first read this piece it would still be three more years and two more books before I finally sold Reconstructing Amelia. There were some bleak times I got through by telling myself that was because I was just a Cezanne in the making.

So if you’re sitting somewhere today thinking that maybe you should give up on writing. Don’t. Not today. Read the article. Remind yourself that this is your path and you are a Cezanne. And then, just write on….