Why I Keep Writing Despite Rejection

 

We all experience rejection in some form, be it in life or in writing. But I think this is not something that we should worry too much about when it comes to writing. Rejection might show you how you need to improve and help you understand what your shortcomings are as a writer. In other words, rejection is great feedback that can help guide you in making you a better writer. Rejection will help you understand what you do well and what you might want to work on to get better as a writer.

Currently I am querying my middle grade fantasy novels and let me tell you that I expect to have a couple of rejections in my email inbox every week. While any other type of rejection might sting, a rejection from an agent doesn’t sting as much because it is often the norm in the writing industry. Even the best writers get rejected. But I think this shouldn't stop you from wanting to improve as a writer. We all have room for improvement as professional writers and individuals. 

Famous Writers Got Rejected Too

Even writers we admire have got rejected and that is great motivation and can help us understand that we can’t appeal to everyone even if we would love to. Our favourite authors have been rejected many times but they never gave up. If they did give up we are unlikely to know of their stories and the success they got because they weren’t deterred by failure. Failures are the pillars of success is a saying that might sound annoying but holds true nevertheless. If you are facing rejections and are doing everything in your power to improve as a writer, well pat yourself on the back because that is the only thing you can do and the only aspect of a writer’s life you can control. You have no say over if or if not an agent will like your story or piece of work. All you can do is try to be better and grow as a writer in every possible way.

Rejection Helps You Become Better

By helping you understand what is working and what is not, rejection can help you become a better writer. If you pay attention to the feedback you are getting along with the rejections, then you have valuable information that can be applied to take your writing to the next level. Good writers aren’t made overnight. They are made of toil and error. The more rejections you face, the more you learn about your writing and how it is received by the reader. Often we are blind to our own flaws which is why rejection might be the nudge we needed to start evaluating our progress as a writer and what we can do to become better. Sometimes the feedback that comes with the rejections we get as writers can become our biggest strengths if we devote the necessary time and effort to become better and overcome these weaknesses as writers. 

Rejection Builds Resilience

Facing rejection and learning from the feedback that often comes with it builds resilience. Writing is all about being resilient and developing resilience. You don’t become a great writer overnight. You become one by persevering and being consistent and not being deterred by rejection. Rejection should motivate and propel you to try harder and become better by facing rejection with resilience. If you are worried that you will never make it because you keep getting rejected, know that you can’t know that for sure. The only way you will know is if you keep trying and keep going despite setbacks and rejections. This is the only thing you can do and the only way you can say that you have failed. You haven't failed as long as you keep trying to become a better writer. You fail only when you give up.

You Can Learn From Rejection

Rejection can be a great teacher, and often is a better teacher than success ever can be. It teaches us endurance and the value of being willing to learn from our mistakes. It humbles us and reminds us that good things don’t come easy and that they might take time. Being rejected can be an excellent opportunity to hone your craft and learn about what might be holding you back as a writer. Learning from rejection will undoubtedly make you a stronger writer and open up new opportunities that would have not been present for you if you didn’t work on your shortcomings as a writer. The most important thing is to treat rejection as a lesson and not a life sentence. 

Rejection Is Not a Reflection of Self Worth

If you tie your self worth to how successful you are as a writer, it will be difficult to face rejections. Being rejected doesn’t mean that your writing is bad. This is especially true in the traditional publishing world where many manuscripts are rejected due to not being what the market wants or because of the fact that the literary agent is already representing something similar. It is not always a reflection of your abilities or your worth as a writer, a professional or a person. It is easy to blame yourself and give up, but if you keep going despite setbacks and rejections, then that means you don’t have to worry about not being worthy of success. Because every writer who made it started somewhere and every writer who did never gave up on writing.

I hope you found this article helpful. Hopefully this motivated you to keep writing despite rejections. Remember rejections are something that all writers have to deal with and that you are not the only writer who is being rejected. Every writer faces rejection, especially since writing is an art and because writing like all art is subjective. So if you are struggling with rejections, know that you are NOT on your own. You are struggling along with many writers who are in the same boat as you.