Life & Writing Tools: The Real Meaning of Rejection By Susan Hanniford Crowley

What does Rejection mean?

Everyone gets rejected at some point in their lives. Some people will never admit it, but they are keeping a secret to save their confidence. Other people feel like they get rejected all the time. If they take a closer look at their lives, they will find they have some people or/and things to be grateful for.

Life Tools

All our lives that are things we wish for. Why? Because those things look golden and exciting. Maybe we have a dream or vision of what we want to do. That doesn’t mean we will be doing those things for an entire lifetime.

When we’re growing up, we tryout for a sports, musical groups, or for a play. Sometimes we make it. Sometimes not. Even if you are chosen for your desired activity, even though you are filled with excitement, time will test things out for you. You tried it but like the wrong size of clothes, it may not fit just right.

Life is all about you having choices. If what you’ve chosen doesn’t fit, you can adjust what you want or go after something that fits you better.

Rejection teaches us that we can adjust what we truly want or there is something better around the corner. It teaches us not to settle. Don’t be sad or mad you didn’t get something. Maybe what look golden and exciting, really wasn’t. There is something else down the road.

Writing Tools

Writers submit their work to be published. I’m going to tell you the truth about rejection letters/emails.

Issues beyond your control: An editor or junior editor or editor intern will reject something for several reasons. They are sick and putting rejection emails on all the emails. Yes, it happens. They are having a hard day and are doing the same thing. You wrote a clown story and they just accepted a clown story, therefore all incoming clown stories get rejected. Unless they are doing a clown edition, they only have room for one. Technical issues: Your story/book may not be starting in the right place. You may have lost energy and action in the middle (also known as saggy middle). You may not have an ending or the ending doesn’t make sense. Hopefully your book/story/chapter/amount requested for submission is not filled with misspellings or grammatical errors. These are all reasons a work can get rejected. Think about editing at least ten times completely through and also get another pair of eyes on your work, preferably another editor. Never send out first drafts. The sad part and the part that makes most writers sad and doubting themselves is these rejection notes usually don’t tell you why it was rejected. Why? Time is not on the editors’ side. Being an Associate Editor and now a First Reader for a magazine, the amount of submissions we get is daunting. And everything has to be read by a certain time. So what does Rejection mean to a writer. It means you are being tested. Is it an issue beyond your control? Are there technical issues you can fix? As you get better as a writer, you get better with rejection. You may not realize it but it’s true. You get rejected and move on to the next publisher/editor. You never know when that door will open, when your book or story will be the perfect fit for that publisher.So a rejection email doesn’t really hold a lot of weight with you except to say, “Move on.” 99% of them won’t tell you what you did wrong. It could just be a bad day for the recipient. Move on! It’s not worth your time and energy in being mad or sad. Get busy writing again if that’s what you want to do.On the off chance you get one that gives suggestions for how to fix it and then resubmit, THAT IS AN INVITATION! Immediately fix it according to all the suggestions and resend immediately. Be sure to say you were asked to resubmit! There’s a door opening!

Life & Writing Tools

Applaud your courage in life. Be the adventurer! Cherish the people who love and support you. And whatever you do, forget about the rejections!

I put The Stormy Love Life of Laura Cordelais at the top of this post, because it was rejected by a major publisher but in a weird way. I submitted it and got a email back saying my submission was received. Nothing else. In the meantime, I decided I would take a closer look at the contracts that publisher had their authors sign. There were some items I did not like. So I sent another email saying that I was withdrawing it from their consideration as of this date.

I submitted it to another publisher, the editor-in-chief called me back. They loved it and wanted to publish it. They would be sending me a contract and I could call them with any questions.

Nine months later, The Stormy Love Life of Laura Cordelais was published. Three months after that the first publisher sent me an email rejecting it. Remember how twelve months prior I had withdrawn it from their consideration?

Whatever you choose to do in life, have fun, be kind to others, and don’t let rejections get you down. They are like the hurdles in the way of a runner. Leap over them.

Be safe, warm, happy and cozy! Keep the ones you love close!

Truly,

Susan
Susan Hanniford Crowley
https://susanhannifordcrowley.com
https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Hanniford-Crowley/e/B004YXOGXG

New Release: David & Laura: A Vampire Christmas Story: An Arnhem Society Special Edition
is available on Kindle and Amazon Paperback (Note: a steamy novella)

EverNight for ages 13-113 is now available on Kindle and Amazon Paperback.
EverWarm for ages 13-113 is now available on Kindle and Amazon Paperback.
Lady Fallon’s Dragons for ages 13-113 is now available on Kindle and Amazon Paperback, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords, BAM online bookstore sells the paperback, Scribd, and in paperback in the UK at Waterstones, also on Amazon around the world.
The Vampire with a Blanket of Stars, Arnhem Knights of New York, Book 3 is available in Amazon Print and Kindle, Nook, Kobo,  Apple, Walmart ebooks & Smashwords.
Vampire King of New York, Arnhem Knights of New York, Book 1 now in Kindle and Print! Walmart Bookstore Online
Vampire in the Basement, Vampires in Manhattan, Book 4 available on Kindle.
Poseidon’s Catch(mythology romance) is available on Kindle.
Mrs. Bright’s Tea Room (steampunk romance) is available on Kindle.
A Vampire for Christmas, Vampires in Manhattan, Book 3 available on Kindle.
The Stormy Love Life of Laura Cordelais, Vampires in Manhattan, Book 2 available in Kindle and Print and Barnes and Noble Print
When Love Survives, Vampires in Manhattan Book 1 is available on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords, and iBooks (on Apple devices).

Now we wait
for the return of the princess.