Monday 27 June 2011

Rejection Blues (also known as Strains of Woe)

After struggling with rejection blues for many years, when blogger Misha Gericke invited me to do a guest post, I recalled how hard it was for me to overcome the wretchedness of each rejection letter. Here are my remembered Strains of Woe


 “…so shall I taste
At first the very worst of fortune’s might,
And other strains of woe…”    (Sonnet 90, Shakespeare)


What beautiful words! But, to an unpublished author, they are no consolation when the lash of fortune’s might is another rejection letter (or e-mail) from a publisher.


I’ve been writing since 1997. That’s fourteen years and seven completed novels. That’s a lot of rejections I’ve had to learn to live with.  Rejection becomes easier when a new writer finally realises that rejection letters are all part of the process of becoming a professional story teller. Rejection letters can be worn like a badge of honour, but they can also bring the curse of self-doubt.  And self-doubt can become your greatest enemy, for it freezes your creativity and weighs your writing down with your most secret fears.


What can a fledgling author do to overcome the rejection blues? Go to Misha Gericke's blog to read about the five stepping stones that can help you find your way from rejection to publication. If you comment on Misha's blog before 1pm South African time on Wednesday 29th June, you stand a chance of winning a US15 gift voucher.

Free Image from ClipArt

8 comments:

Kiru Taye said...

Judy, I totally sympathise. Rejection's a drag on creativity. :(

septembermom said...

Rejection can get to be such a heavy weight on creativity. I'm off to Misha's blog now!

Tabouleh said...

Rejection can be so difficult to face and therefore I salute you for doing just that... I admire you for persevering and trying because in the end you were rewarded.... Failure is only a stepping stone to success... and you have succeeded my friend!

Tabouleh said...

I read your guest entry at Misha's... loved it... and cannot wait for mine! Woohoo... go Judy!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Judy .. I imagine the 'badge of honour' concept would be pretty demoralising for each future book -

So now I must pop over and see what happened .. reward .. after all the rejection and fear .. belief in ourselves - so important.

cheers for now - Hilary

Yvonne said...

Rejection can sure weigh you down. I'm afraid I let that happen to me, but I so admire you for keeping at it!

Nas said...

Ooowwww Judy? Rejection?

But I so admire you.

Judy Croome | @judy_croome said...

KIRU: Yes, I find rejections always has a negative impact on my creativity.

SEPTEMBER MOM: Too true! See you at Misha's blog!

TABOULEH: One thing writing teaches is perseverance. I may be short on discipline but endurance is something I can count on! And, yes, even though there may not be great external success, I feel content with what's been achieved on an inner level (I'll be doing a series of posts on this journey soon)
And I'll have your guest post ready soon - working my way through the list slowly but steadily!

HILARY: That self-belief is so important. Sadly, some rejections can chip away at that, but that's when it's even more important to continue (spit in the eye of rejection, so to speak!)

YVONNE: Some rejections can just be that one too many - sorry it happened to you Yvonne, but your writing is so good I'm sure you'll bounce back with a bang!

NAS: Ouch, indeed! :)