Rejection--It's Real and It's Rotten

I sent a query to a magazine editor last week, hoping he'd want to see an essay I'd written. Success on that part, as he answered immediately that he'd like to see it.  I sent it to him and had only days to wait before he sent me a rejection letter. Rejection is the one part of writing that is real and also rotten. But every writer learns to deal with it. I must admit that it bothered me a whole lot more in my beginning years. I've learned that it's not a personal rejection, that maybe my essay or story didn't fit that magazine's immediate editorial needs, or that they'd publishes something similar only a couple months earlier. There are many reasons for rejection, and only one of them is poor writing.

We've all had to deal with rejection of one kind or another nearly all our lives. It started on the playground when a group of girls shuts one girl out. Hurts like crazy, but it happens. A teen-age romance breaks up, and it's big-time rejection. Same when a marriage of either short duration or a good many years breaks up. One member of the couple experiences major rejection. And what about interviewing for a coveted new job? Three guys are finalists, and the two who don't get the job are the ones who deal with rejection. Real? Yes.
Rotten? Yes  And some of these are far more serious than a piece of writing not being accepted.

So, what's the solution? We can either let it drag us down into the depths of despair or pick ourselves up and move on. In my case, with the essay that was rejected, I'll take a good look at it, maybe revise it somewhat and send it off to another editor. I read somewhere years ago that the average for writers is one acceptance for every twelve submissions. That means eleven rejections! I have a plus--I'm not trying to make a living as a writer. I do it because I love it, not to support myself. The writer whose income is completely derived from what he/she writes has a much more difficult time.