How do you deal with rejections??!!

[India]

John wrote: "India wrote: "Just received my first ever rejection letter from a leading publishing house with the usual words (I think) storyline and hook was interesting, but they are not looking now and asking..."

Thanks John. When it comes to writing, I am extremely selfish. I only write what I want to read. I am sure that is the case with may writers.

[India]

Bobbi wrote: "It's so easy to say don't take it personally or don't get upset. But, if I may say, it IS personal, at least on your end. Somebody just said NO to something that you put a lot of work into! And tho..."

Thanks Bobbi.

[India]

Matthew wrote: "So let me begin by saying that I see I'm coming into this thread long after it's developed. We've already blocked Robert so the requisite troll has been foisted from our midst, and perhaps we can m..."

Believe me Matthew, I've dedicated Sunday afternoons to mope over rejection letters, I have one so far, as I'd gathered the courage to submit to just one and bite my nails on what the next publisher could possibly say. Did I say that I generally keep company with Mr.Tipple? LOL

[Michael]

Hi Maria,

I like how you turned something negative into something positive. Good for you.

[India]

Maria wrote: "As an author who has plenty of rejection letters in my file I finally wrote about it in THE AUTHOR CAUGHT THE GHOST ebook. We all know how frustrating and discouraging it can be so all we can do i..."

Congratulations Maria. Being a writer is not as fancy as some people make it out to be. We are not all celebrities. IMHO being a writer is about telling a compelling story, a story that the author needs to get off his/her chest. Clearly you have not been put off by rejection letters and have a story to tell. Good luck with your book and keep writing.

[Christine]

Chas wrote: "I'm new here so please forgive me if I don't know the etiquette. I'd like to flip the question on its head and ask why anyone would set themselves up for a rejection when you can publish for free ..."

The etiquette is very simple - you do not hijack a thread to talk about a different subject. We appreciate your comments and encourage new members to get involved, but this thread was started by India asking "How Do You Deal With Rejections?" and relates to writers querying agents and publishers.

We are all aware of the option of self-publishing. There are numerous threads about it going on right now - so perhaps you could record your comments there, since they have nothing to do with the question she asked or the current discussion.

[Steven]

Back in the day (pre-digital age) it seemed that every other month all of the Writer's mags would have some article about handling rejection slips. The big thing was to proudly paper your walls with them for you were writing and you were learning and the slips represented your determination. The old "quitters never win" scenario hopefully leading to not being discouraged.

I got discouraged despite. But I loved writing and remembered that someone advised that I could write for myself. So, that's what I did.

I finally stopped collecting the rejection slips and did finally begin collecting some acceptance slips. (I also kept my day job - the best advice)

Networking helped. Getting people that have the guts to tell you where your prose is weak and the skill to do it while pointing to your strengths and keeping you encouraged. Rare birds but they're out there.