This Writing Game

When you keep submitting your work and getting rejections, it can be disheartening. Change that 'can be' to 'is.' With each rejection, you feel like the wind has gone out of your sails. You're sad--or mad--and you ask yourself if you should just chuck the whole idea of being a published writer. 

Change the 'you' words above to 'we' because you're definitely not in this alone. You have plenty of company in that feeling down after a rejection. We write, we submit, we receive a rejection, we feel crummy for a few hours. 

After that, we need to do some analyzing. Why was our work rejected? Did we choose the wrong kind of publication, one where our work didn't fit? Did we send a clean submission with no spelling errors, correct punctuation etc? Could we have used more sensory details? Did we make things clear? Do we need to do some revising before submitting to another editor? Answer those questions honestly. We know by then that we have some work to do. 

If you feel your writing is the best it can be, then find another place to submit. Editors are individuals. What one likes, another might detest. As writers, we need to find the right fit, and that's not always easily done.  I had that happen this week. I submitted a story yesterday afternoon in response to a call for submissions. This morning, I received an acceptance from the editor. The original call said the editor would choose one or two of the best stories to publish in December. It's seldom that an acceptance comes that quickly. More often, we wait and wait and wait and...  When it does happen this fast, it certainly boosts the ego. I also think about the many submissions that got rejected by an editor or the ones that ended up floating in writer space with no response whatsoever. 

Our poster today has some good advice. It's those small efforts we make day after day that help us reach success. We may not think that those writing exercises do us any good. We might get fed up with revising and editing our work. We might feel depressed that we get more rejections than acceptances. (Very few writers have the majority of their work accepted.) 

Once again, those two keywords, patience and perseverance come into the picture. If we have the patience to continue with those small efforts and the passion for writing that results in perseverance, we're going to come out alright. We're going to find some successes along with those rejections. 

We have to make up our minds that we're in this game for the long haul. Those small efforts must be made on a daily basis.