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Dealing with Rejectionby Vicki Meade
The most productive attitude is to use rejection as feedback to help you improve your work or better target your submissions. "Be honest with yourself about the strengths and weaknesses of your writing," she said. "There's no shame in being a beginner. If you don't know how to structure a piece, for example, it's not that you're a failure, it's that you need help!" Focus on small successes, such as writing for a local newsletter or small weekly paper, and then build on them. "Don't think about fame, glory, or book contracts," Weissman advised. "Just keep working." |
Vicki Meade |
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Weissman, who has been published everywhere from The Wall Street Journal
to Cosmopolitan, gave a lively pep talk on how to deal with the inevitable
rejections that all writers face. Her main message: don't confuse rejection
with failure. "Rejection is an action done by other people. Failure
is a label we attach to ourselves—don't take rejection as evidence
of your worthlessness."