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Craft of Writing

Caroline Misner

The Bright Side of Rejection

There is nothing more painful to a writer than rejection. That dejected feeling that overwhelms her the moment she opens the mailbox to find yet another pile of familiar yellow manila envelopes with her address scrawled across them in her own handwriting. Her mind races and rationalizes as she reads the return address in the corner of each envelope. Perhaps it's not a rejection, she reasons as she rips them open. Perhaps the senior editor at The New Yorker adores my work so much he is sending me a contract to be his number one head writer.

Right. We all know that the chances of that happening are pretty close to zero. Her heart sinks to the lowest tier in her gut as she reluctantly extracts that carefully prepared manuscript. Chances are far more likely that the envelopes contain the standard form letters—some not much bigger than book marks—with the impersonal yet polite standard rejection: "Thank you for your interest in our publication. Unfortunately your story/query/poem/essay does not suit our editorial needs at this time. Best of luck to you with your writing."

Writers are a notoriously superstitious lot. I know writers who perform all sorts of sacred rituals when submitting. Afraid of jinxing their chances, they place the stamps upside down on the return envelopes, they use their lucky blue pen, they wear their lucky underwear, and some even take a special route to the mailbox. Anything to improve their chances.

Rejections may be painful, but they needn't be a negative thing. As writers we know that rejection is all part of the process. Any writer who claims to have never received a rejection is either lying or not submitting. We have all heard the same old adages about rejection: it teaches us to learn from past mistakes, it helps us to grow as writers; it thickens our skin and strengthens our resolve. These are all excellent points and they are absolutely true. But there is another aspect of rejection that few writers acknowledge.

Rejection is reaffirming. Every rejection you receive is not a failure. It is an accomplishment, an affirmation that you  are writing, you are submitting, you are out there in the loop, paying your dues and making your rounds and trying to get your work read. I actually look forward to opening my mailbox every day. I know full well that the majority of the queries and manuscripts I send out will be returned with a firm but polite "No Thank You" attached. The majority of those will be photocopied slips of paper clipped to my manuscript. Most won't even have the editor's signature.

The best rejections any writer can receive are those impersonal form letters signed by the editor. By receiving one of those I know the editor (or her assistant) took my work seriously enough to personally respond to it. Letters written in the editor's own hand on the publication's letterhead are even more encouraging. And then there is the holy grail of all rejections: a personal critique followed by a polite rejection and a request to see more of your work because the editor likes your style or ideas. Pure gold.

It is important that we not allow rejections to get the better of us. They may be discouraging, but we mustn't see them as obstacles in reaching our writing goals, whatever they may be. The most important thing is to never give up, never stop writing and never stop submitting what we write. Rejections are not signs of failure. The only failure is in giving up.


About the Author
Caroline Misner was born in a country that at the time was known as Czechoslovakia. She immigrated to Canada in 1969 where she has been reading, writing and following her muse ever since. She is a graduate of Sheridan College of Applied Arts & Technology with a degree in Media Arts Writing. Her work has appeared in numerous consumer and literary journals throughout the USA, Canada and the UK, most notably The Windsor Review, Prairie Journal, Cottage Life, Dreamcatcher and The Litchfield Review. She is currently a member of the Canadian Federation of Poets.