“We’re sorry to inform you that your submission was not a good fit for our magazine. Best of luck finding a place for it elsewhere.”
Haven’t we all been there? There’s no way I can avoid being refused or ignored when I take my art and show it to the masses. Rejection is a fact of the writing life. How in the world do I find ways to keep my chin up?
Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones, had some great things to say on this topic.
Isolation is the best locale to for high impact discouragement. I read harsh criticism, I suffer an attack of jealousy for another writer’s success, or I’m wrestling in front of my computer with writer’s block and if I’m I’m alone, it gets bad.
Natalie shared her technique of writing with others, including finding restaurants that never have all their tables full and writing in them for hours at a time, all the while keeping herself in the presence of people.
She’d call a friend and leave a message asking her to meet at a particular time, but not to call back as to whether she could make it. This made Natalie show up for the work regardless of whether her friend would be there.
She’d leave chocolate chip cookies in her studio to bribe herself to work there.
The most important thing is to not be cast away by discouragement, laziness, or anything else that tends to block my path. Surrounding myself with people and techniques to motivate me is a good line of defense.
I’ve used chocolate MANY times.
What “safety line” do you use to keep yourself from being tossed away?
