Rejection letters are always an important part of every writer’s life.
They can drive you to do better or they can knock you flat on your back. For new writers, rejection letters can be a cause for fear. We’re afraid that our work isn’t good enough, that our stories will never get recognized. The biggest fear, though many of us don’t recognize it, is that one day, we’ll get the rejection letter that makes us stop writing.
If we truly want to be writers, we must push past the fear and if possible, use the rejection as a way to inspire yourself. But I can see how that’s difficult to do.
Some writers are unfortunate enough to get the bad rejection letters, ones that simply say, “Your entry was not accepted. Try again next year!” Those letters truly leave writers buried in questions. Was the story too long? Too short? Were my characters dull and uninteresting? Did the plot fall flat? It’s those kinds of letters that leave writers feeling anxious, maybe even a bit angry that their story didn’t deserve anything more than a 100 character rejection letter.
Even worse than that are the rejection letters that bring up J.K. Rowling and her climb to success. It’s surprising how many rejection letters, particularly those meant for new and young writers, talk about J.K. Rowling and her rejections. For me, those are just simply impersonal. What a new writer needs to hear is how to get better, not how someone else did. J.K. Rowling’s success is truly a story of hard work, determination, and dedication, but it’s not very consoling for a new writer who may have gotten their first rejection letter.
However, as much as bad rejection letters are a part of a writer’s life, good rejection letters will be too. There is always a story that a writer can tell where a rejection letter has left them feeling more motivated than beaten down.
About two years ago, I wrote a story and submitted it to a literary magazine called The New Guard, and about two years ago, I got a rejection letter from them. They said that it was a stiff competition and that although my story made it to the final round, my story was not a good fit for the magazine. Two years later, I get another rejection letter from The New Guard. This time, though, the email was slightly different. They remembered my previous submission and they commented on both my growth as a writer and on the story I submitted. It was personalized and professional, but what really stuck with me were these three words: “Please keep writing.”
For many reasons, I should’ve been bummed that I didn’t get accepted into the magazine. Two years ago, I was in a pit of despair for not making it into the magazine. I felt like my work was never going to be good enough. But a handful of rejection letters later, I’m incredibly happy and grateful for the rejection letter from The New Guard. I was told by a legitimate literary magazine that my story holds promise and that I’ve grown as a writer. They told me to keep writing.
Perhaps it’s extreme optimism, perhaps it’s perspective, but rejection doesn’t always have to mean that we’re not good enough as writers.
There are a lot of us that’ll get rejection letters. We’ll get the bad kinds and we’ll get the good kinds. The bad kinds will sometimes be demoralizing, the good kinds will sometimes be inspiring. Occasionally you’ll fall into that put of despair, occasionally you’ll feel empowered enough to write for days. But either way, hold onto the good and the bad. Rejection letters aren’t a sign that you aren’t good enough. It’s a sign that you’re brave enough to put your story out there, that you’re brave enough to keep writing.
So, if you’re afraid of that next rejection letter or if you’re in that pit of despair, I’ll tell you what The New Guard told me: Please keep writing.
