Rejection Dejection
I've had to deal with rejection my whole life, whether professionally or in writing.
Early on (18-19) I eagerly sent stories to publications, only to collect rejections. Old-school SASE rejections. I used to keep those slips, had them for years, until I finally lost them. But being young, I just dedicated myself to reading and getting better as a writer (20-30). I didn't take it personally, because I knew they were reaches.
When I felt ready to again sling stories and books out to the wider world (32-40), I sent stories out and all but a couple were repeatedly rejected. I couldn't find traction, regardless of the genre. I started to accumulate a backlog of book drafts and short stories that couldn't find homes.
So, I decided to DIY it (self-publish, indie, whatever you want to call it), and began getting my books out there (32-present). Still haven't found my audience, yet, which feels like still more rejection. Others get propped up and paraded about, have fans and acolyte-boosters. Not me.
Obviously, daring to speak up about this will probably get me slagged, but the amount of rejection I deal with is pretty crazy, given that my work isn't shit, and I've continued to work at it, honing my craft as much as I can.
I'm a prolific unread/unknown indie writer. A handful of readers have appreciated my work, and I'm grateful to them. I just wish I had more audience.
Seems like everybody else wants me to promote their work (even when they have their own Greek Choruses out there singing their praises), and just shelve mine. I won't do that, however. My work is good, even if/when it's almost constantly rejected in the social media maelstrom. Am I too white, middle-aged, and progressive? Should I be a psychopathic, right-wing opportunist to gain audience? Fat chance. Just seeing JK Rowling puffing on her cigars atop her mountain of money makes me sick.
That's not who I am. I'm too independent, too much of a misfit for the normies out there, I guess. I'm rejected across several genres, and even the few who like my work comment that they don't know why my work isn't more widely known. Tell me about it!
Professionally, I navigated things reasonably well until I turned 50. Now I just get rejected constantly, despite getting to last-round interviews. The cavalcade of rejection has leached into my workaday life, again and again. The last 2.5 years have been me futilely trying to find full-time work, only to have being 55 years old being tantamount to career suicide.
Keeping my spirits up in the face of across-the-board rejection is rough. As an optimistic nihilist (or a nihilistic optimist, at any rate), it's rough.
The optimistic part of me thinks that I just need one of the intellectual properties I've created to find its audience and I'd be able to make that work for me.
However, the realistic part of me sees effort after after of mine fly off unheralded into the void, and I get depressed. I'm doing good work; I just wish I could find my audience and/or traction somewhere.
Early on (18-19) I eagerly sent stories to publications, only to collect rejections. Old-school SASE rejections. I used to keep those slips, had them for years, until I finally lost them. But being young, I just dedicated myself to reading and getting better as a writer (20-30). I didn't take it personally, because I knew they were reaches.
When I felt ready to again sling stories and books out to the wider world (32-40), I sent stories out and all but a couple were repeatedly rejected. I couldn't find traction, regardless of the genre. I started to accumulate a backlog of book drafts and short stories that couldn't find homes.
So, I decided to DIY it (self-publish, indie, whatever you want to call it), and began getting my books out there (32-present). Still haven't found my audience, yet, which feels like still more rejection. Others get propped up and paraded about, have fans and acolyte-boosters. Not me.
Obviously, daring to speak up about this will probably get me slagged, but the amount of rejection I deal with is pretty crazy, given that my work isn't shit, and I've continued to work at it, honing my craft as much as I can.
I'm a prolific unread/unknown indie writer. A handful of readers have appreciated my work, and I'm grateful to them. I just wish I had more audience.
Seems like everybody else wants me to promote their work (even when they have their own Greek Choruses out there singing their praises), and just shelve mine. I won't do that, however. My work is good, even if/when it's almost constantly rejected in the social media maelstrom. Am I too white, middle-aged, and progressive? Should I be a psychopathic, right-wing opportunist to gain audience? Fat chance. Just seeing JK Rowling puffing on her cigars atop her mountain of money makes me sick.
That's not who I am. I'm too independent, too much of a misfit for the normies out there, I guess. I'm rejected across several genres, and even the few who like my work comment that they don't know why my work isn't more widely known. Tell me about it!
Professionally, I navigated things reasonably well until I turned 50. Now I just get rejected constantly, despite getting to last-round interviews. The cavalcade of rejection has leached into my workaday life, again and again. The last 2.5 years have been me futilely trying to find full-time work, only to have being 55 years old being tantamount to career suicide.
Keeping my spirits up in the face of across-the-board rejection is rough. As an optimistic nihilist (or a nihilistic optimist, at any rate), it's rough.
The optimistic part of me thinks that I just need one of the intellectual properties I've created to find its audience and I'd be able to make that work for me.
However, the realistic part of me sees effort after after of mine fly off unheralded into the void, and I get depressed. I'm doing good work; I just wish I could find my audience and/or traction somewhere.
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