rejection

The Waiting Game

/ Ev Bishop / 5 Comments

Is there anything more onerous to a writer than the waiting game? Most people tackle a project and then, well, they’re done. Not fiction writers, oh no. They “finish” their work (which could take months, a year, or even years) and send it away, only to have the really time consuming part of the job start: the waiting.

Lurking dangers surround all that waiting. Self-doubt has lots of time to imagine unkind things being said to your story’s face (and to do its own unkind muttering in your head). The desire for regular coffee money might trick you into some cave of a job where you’re paid by the hour. Writer’s block (if you subscribe to that kind of notion) is more prone to leap upon you and starting chewing on your throat—especially if what you want to write next might depend (foolishly!) on whether the circulating work sells (my advice: write like it sells, or don’t and start something entirely new—just write!).

It’s not all bad though. If you let it, waiting to hear back can be kind of like counting down to a vacation. Each passing day is one closer to at least some sort of a response, the wait gets sweeter, the anticipation builds. I’ve learned to use the hope that just won’t die (I’m bandaging my throat here as you read!) as motivation to write the next thing. While your words sit on someone’s desk, there is the endless opportunity that said words might find a home—someone might like that story, poem, article, or what-have-you. Nothing is more inspiring than the idea that someone might relate to your offerings and even (gleep!) want more of them. Exciting stuff.

I try to take full advantage of this wait/hope phenomenon by keeping 6 – 8 things “out there” all the time. That way, rejection doesn’t hurt as much (hope sprints over to another project to rest on) and my inner-creep can’t do as much of a job on my self-esteem.

Hmmmm . . . Is there a point to this post? Yes (lectures self), get your stuff out there and keep it out there until it finds a home. And in the meantime, the waiting time, get busy on the next idea.

Happy writing,
☺ Ev

A rejection a day….

/ Ev Bishop / 2 Comments

I woke up bright and early, went to the gym, came home and got a start on my workday (checking e-mail is something I can do while my kids get ready for school). The first thing I opened was a rejection to one of the queries I sent last week. At least it was a quick response, and really, a rejection is a great way to start the day. It’s a) affirming—you can only be rejected when you’re actually submitting, and b) inspiring—every rejection fuels the motivation to receive an acceptance.

If there was a downside to this one, it was that it was the worst kind of chastisement. You know how I mentioned in my last post that I sent queries I’d been sitting on too long? The rejection read, in part, that it was “a good idea, but that they were already working on something similar.” The same thing happened last year re: a gym article I wanted to write.

The moral of the story? Writers should abide by the rule I’ve heard applies to patenting ideas—from the time you get your idea, you have three months maximum to flesh it out and patent it, because if you take any longer than that, whatever combination of things—overheard conversation at Safeway, article browsed through at the Dr’s office, television ad campaign—that caused you to get the idea, will have done the same (or too similar) in someone else’s head. Don’t sit on your ideas and stories! Write them—or write of them—and send them out. It’s one thing to be told your idea stinks, it’s another to be told, “Oh, if only you’d sent it a bit sooner….”

I think I will scrawl that last bit on a sticky note and add it to my “Note to self” wall.

Have a great day!

~Ev