• Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact
HEN HOUSE PUBLISHING
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact

Hens Lay Eggs

food for thought

Rejection, all part of the game

1/10/2017

 
No career is built without rejection. Every hopeful applicant submits resume after resume, only to be rejected until that final acceptance comes through. Every service provider submits proposal after proposal, chasing after more projects than the company could possibly handle, because company executives know that rejections far outnumber acceptances. Therefore, it's no surprise that rejection flavors a writer's life, too.

Rejection comes in various levels, from the mysterious black hole into which synopses and cover letters disappear without ever receiving a response to brutal "you suck" reviews to gentle "we liked it, but it's not for us" replies. Personally, I find the black hole approach the most offensive.

Today I received a gentle rejection from Pulp Literature Press. I submitted a short story to them in response to a call for submissions and then promptly forgot about having done so. The rejection stated that two editors considered my story, but finally decided that it just didn't make the cut. That's actually encouraging. Not as encouraging as an acceptance, but it came with an invitation to submit again.

That encouragement comes as validation. My writing doesn't suck. Perhaps it's not quite what was wanted, but it didn't suck.

Writers are a needy bunch. We need validation, if only to justify what we do. Since the work we put out for the public to see bears our names and oftentimes a piece of our souls, we're desperate for validation. One might think that multitudes of favorable recommendations might result in a writer's swollen ego, but every writer knows that the next scathing, confidence-crushing critique could be seconds away.

It's difficult to put yourself on display for the world's criticism, because the general public isn't known for its kindness. Any writer who embarks upon a career as a published writer must develop a thick hide if only for self-protection against constant rejection, blatant and lurking in the shadows. The writer must also develop a way to dig the good from even cruel reviews, learn from them, and use that cruelty to improve one's craftsmanship.

For a writer, failure isn't rejection. Failure is quitting. Writers who don't write cannot call themselves writers. For some of us, not writing is not an option. We write because we must. The production of content then compiles into at least a small measure of success to which one can point and say, "I did that. I created that."

Comments are closed.

    Share!

    Picture

    Author

    Hard boiled, scrambled, over easy, and sunny side up: eggs are the musings of Holly Bargo, the pseudonym for the author.

    Follow
    Karen (Holly)

    Blog Swaps
    View Guest Author Posts
    Looking for a place to swap blogs? Holly Bargo at Hen House Publishing is happy to reciprocate Blog Swaps in 2019.
    For more information: 
    Email Us

    Get Your Copy of
    Hen House Publishing Blog via Email:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    Categories

    All
    Books By Holly Bargo
    Egg Reviews
    Events
    Guest Author
    Interviews
    Mfrw
    Mfrwauthor
    #MFRWHooks
    Reviews
    #SpringfieldOHBookFair
    Status
    #WinterBookFair

    Share

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

HOME | ABOUT US | SERVICES | PORTFOLIO | TESTIMONIALS | BOOK CATALOG | FREE READS | BLOG | EVENTS | CONTACT
Copyright © 2015 - 2023
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact