Rejection King
April's post (The Writer's Life) was timely. My thoughts recently have been wandering down the same avenue as the second part of her post -- how do you draw encouragement from rejection? The fact is, I don't think another profession out there (perhaps aside from acting) presents its practitioner with as much rejection as writing. We've heard tales of job seekers sending out hundreds of resumes with few responses, but often they send resumes to positions for which they are un- or ill-qualified.
That's not to say there aren't thousands of wannabe writers out there who are truly ill-equipped to write a good piece of novel-length fiction. There are. And hundreds of them have found a way to get published through print-on-demand technology. There are also thousands of writers who actually can string together a sentence, some of whom are talented enough to write a book. Even then, they may not be good enough to submit their work to a traditional publisher.
Far greater, however, are the number of writers who work hard at their craft and have enough inate talent to write good, well-plotted books with interesting characters, a fresh voice and intriguing themes. Many of them, like me, are published. But the road to publication is littered with rejection. Like April, I did a quick count and came up with 283 rejection letters in the course of the last 30 years.
The fifth book in my Emerson Ward mystery series was published in hardcover recently. I just completed the manuscript for the sixth. It's the best piece of fiction I've ever written, a result of hard work and years of practice at this craft. In the past two weeks, I've already been turned down by 17 agents.
Why do we endure this sort of rejection? What is it about writers that makes us come back, day after day, and sit in front of typewriter/computer/paper to write? Why are we so compelled to tell stories that will end up receiving jeers from so many? Why do we punish ourselves with not only one of the hardest jobs I know of, but the humiliation of rejection as well?
Perhaps because acceptance, when it comes, is validation of what we knew all along -- we're good at what we do. While most of here on this blog don't yet have legions of fans, if we could find a way to let more people know about us and what we write, we would.
Rejection? Hardly. More like motivation.
Michael W. Sherer
Death Is No Bargain
www.emersonwardmysteries.com
That's not to say there aren't thousands of wannabe writers out there who are truly ill-equipped to write a good piece of novel-length fiction. There are. And hundreds of them have found a way to get published through print-on-demand technology. There are also thousands of writers who actually can string together a sentence, some of whom are talented enough to write a book. Even then, they may not be good enough to submit their work to a traditional publisher.
Far greater, however, are the number of writers who work hard at their craft and have enough inate talent to write good, well-plotted books with interesting characters, a fresh voice and intriguing themes. Many of them, like me, are published. But the road to publication is littered with rejection. Like April, I did a quick count and came up with 283 rejection letters in the course of the last 30 years.
The fifth book in my Emerson Ward mystery series was published in hardcover recently. I just completed the manuscript for the sixth. It's the best piece of fiction I've ever written, a result of hard work and years of practice at this craft. In the past two weeks, I've already been turned down by 17 agents.
Why do we endure this sort of rejection? What is it about writers that makes us come back, day after day, and sit in front of typewriter/computer/paper to write? Why are we so compelled to tell stories that will end up receiving jeers from so many? Why do we punish ourselves with not only one of the hardest jobs I know of, but the humiliation of rejection as well?
Perhaps because acceptance, when it comes, is validation of what we knew all along -- we're good at what we do. While most of here on this blog don't yet have legions of fans, if we could find a way to let more people know about us and what we write, we would.
Rejection? Hardly. More like motivation.
Michael W. Sherer
Death Is No Bargain
www.emersonwardmysteries.com
posted by Michael W. Sherer @ Monday, September 11, 2006
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