Rejections And Setbacks Doesn’t Make You A Terrible Writer

“Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.” — Neil Gaiman

Writers react differently to every negative outcome they experience in their writing careers. Many would feel momentarily demotivated. While others would allow disinterest to set in and separate them from the craft.

When the editors reject your piece, they’d only leave a note denoting that your piece was deemed unfit for publication. You’re going to be the one to figure out while your post was rejected…

Rejections can be enervating and discouraging especially after investing time and effort in a piece that you are passionate about. But later on, you’d be glad for the rejections because they reminded you of the need for improvement.

Don’t waste time whining for pieces that performed poorly. It doesn’t make you an awful writer. What it means is that you’re not always going to write pieces that would appeal to many. It means that some of your writings will die a quick death while some are going to remain evergreen.

Once you ship out a piece, the next thing you can do for the piece is to promote it through any means that works for you. Thereafter, you’re busy working on finishing and shipping the next one.

You don’t write for the numbers but your readers. And your audience wants you to write on. They have an insatiable desire for your written work. But you’d lack the requisite mental energy and clarity to keep typing for your content-hungry readers if you always burden yourself with the outcome of the pieces you wrote.

Writing like every other activity has stages. Maybe you’re at the stage where you’re learning how to find the precise spot to settle before striving to reach the top. Perhaps you’ve found it has started your slow climb to the top. Or maybe you’ve already reached the top. Whichever level you are, acknowledge it and continue to aim higher for there’s no limit to what you can accomplish with your writing talent.

And it’s not possible to find yourself at the top without first learning how to climb by learning the rudiments and the intricacies of writing. Failing and making many mistakes before becoming adept at it.

Every piece you ship out belongs to your readers. And what this means is that whatever would become the outcome of your published works is outside your control. Your role is to write and publish. Your readers determine the fate of your work. What you should be doing is to continue to strengthen your connection with your readers by learning how to create pieces they might find enjoyable.

Expect a lot of rejection and setbacks. Embrace them, and accept them with equanimity each time your submission returns with a rejection note. The rejections are the grist to the meal. They’d point you to the things you need to get right to improve your work. And the setbacks should always serve to help you to bounce back stronger than before.

You have so many stories buried inside you, so please take a seat and begin to write away your next piece. You shouldn’t condemn yourself when no one has condemned you.

Every writer has works that were either considered awful by readers or by publishers. So it’s alright to at times submit pieces that publishers deemed unfit to display on their platform. Or pieces that didn’t connect with your readers.

Every negative outcome means that you can’t win every day. But they teach you how to improve your work.

When you are very desirous to achieve something, you’d understand why it’s worth it to continue to work hard. Therefore let your desire keep you motivated — and determined to never give up.

God will never throw anything at you that you can’t handle. Just take it one step at a time.” — Sidney Sheldon.

Everyone fumbles at some point in this game. Let the place of your downfall be the spot where you’d rebuild and take off to a greater height. Taking the cognizance of what has been working in your favor and striving to build on every success.

Write on, edit without mercy and always ship out once you’re through. No writing task is done until it’s out there to attract readers' attention.