Three Tips for Dealing with Writing Rejection

Rejection is a part of every fiction writer's life. Even people like J.K. Rowling and Stephen King have been rejected many times. If a whiff of rejection is likely to send you into paroxysms of self-pity and despair, fiction writing may not be the thing for you.

There are ways to deal with writing rejection, however. And you have to learn them if you ever want to succeed at being a published fiction writer. The three tips below will help you distance yourself from the rejection so that you can continue writing and improving. 

Take a Break

If you are depressed about the latest rejection, taking a small break from writing might be a good idea. This will give you time to recharge your creative batteries, so to speak. Also, with the pain diminishing, you will be better equipped to look at the rejection from an objective point of view.

However, taking a break is not always a good thing. It often requires extreme discipline or a heady want of publication to get your started again. Do not let rejection depression lengthen your break into the loss of a dream.

Fish for Compliments

After a rejection letter soaks up the tears of your dismay, perhaps the best way to get over it is to round yourself up some ready compliments. Write a poem, story, or whatever and hand it to your most staunch supporter. Your mom will always say you write beautifully, and your husband will give you a kiss and croon that you are his favorite honey-bunch writer in the whole wide world.

Of course, there may be that niggling feeling that their opinions, however sweet, do not really count. After all, your mom or your spouse is not going to publish your work. It helps, however, for a fiction writer to know that someone thinks they are tops.

Write Anyway

Be belligerent! Stick your tongue out at that stinky old rejection letter! Tell yourself that you are better off without them anyway!