If you ever get dejected about your writing, consider this list. Here are just a few highlights:
Margaret Mitchell: “Gone With the Wind” was rejected 38 times.
Tony Hillerman: was told to “get rid of the Indian stuff.”
Richard Bach: 18 publishers thought a book about a seagull was ridiculous before Jonathan Livingston Seagull was picked up.
John Grisham: “A Time to Kill” was rejected by 16 publishers before finding an agent who eventually rejected him as well.
Richard Hooker: The book that inspired the film and TV show M*A*S*H* was denied by 21 publishers.
Gertrude Stein: submitted poems for 22 years before having one accepted.
Robert Pirsig: “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” faced an amazing 121 rejections before becoming beloved by millions of readers.
Rudyard Kipling: In one rejection letter, Mr. Kipling was told he doesn’t know how to use the English language.
J.K. Rowling: J.K. Rowling submitted Harry Potter to 12 publishing houses, all of which rejected it.
William Saroyan: received an astonishing 7,000 rejection slips before selling his first short story.
Okay, so let’s play fill-in-the-blank.
Rejection is ________.
My advice: Don’t let the bastards beat you, keep writing better stories until you beat them!
UPDATE: Via The Atlantic, author’s harshest rejection letters. HT to @DFTVYP for the link. A bit of synchronicity there I think.
I graduated from the illustrious University of Michigan, where a rather well known coach named Bo Schembechler once said, “Those who stay will be champions.” When I’m feeling doubtful I think of that. It’s just a war of attrition. Keep going.
Rejection is something to learn from and plow through.
Rejection is the first step to success.
You have to face it sometime so you can understand the weight of success. If we all succeeded all the time, there would be no purpose to success.
Rejection is the lifeblood to any vocation that desires the very best from its workers.
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