the sweet sting of rejection

with a side of delusion, please.

I hate to be the one to break it to any of y’all aspiring writers, but when you take your craft seriously and you begin to put yourself out there, you will be rejected.

I know, I know. How could anyone reject your tear-soaked poem after you spent hours crafting the perfect metaphor?

It turns out, a whole lot of people.

This, unfortunately, isn’t a case of sour grapes on behalf of yours truly. Writing of any kind is a tough business to break into, even harder to get accepted in, and getting traditionally published can feel like an impossible pipe dream.

This is depressing, but don’t click out of this email. I promise, it will get better.

We’ve all heard the cliche that it’s not about the destination but the journey.

This sounds well and good for those who have already arrived, but for those of us still trudging through the mud and the muck of the road like we’re on the Oregon Trail just seconds away from dying from dysentery, it, quite frankly, sucks.

That is not the kind of journey I want to be on, if I’m completely honest.

Again, depressing, right? Take heart! If you’ve decided to stick it out, here’s the good news.

You will get better at rejection!

Again, that may not sound like good news, but hear me out.

When you’re good at handling rejection, you aren’t as easily rattled. You can at least pretend the bee didn’t sting. Fake it till you make it, right? The pressure is off to perform, and you can have fun playing with your art.

Most importantly, getting better at rejection means we are not married to the outcome, we are romancing the journey. We can fall in love with writing, doing our very best while always improving, and if our final draft isn’t what someone’s looking for, that’s okay.

When you love your work, it doesn’t matter (quite) as much.

Someone thinks my heartbreaking vignette I spent days crying over is the equivalent of an ugly warty toad? Who cares? I love toads!

Another rejection comes across my email? How fun! I love getting personalized emails!

I’m back on the Oregon Trail and I’ve caught a bad case of dysentery? What a messy adventure!

I say this all tongue-in-cheek because it has taken me a long time to get used to rejection. My entire life has revolved around some sort of creative pursuit, and as long as you’re making art, there will be people who at best don’t like it and at worst hate it passionately and insist on telling you about it.

All that being said, I submitted a few poems to Overgrowth Press for their inaugural issue, and all three of them were rejected.

This particular rejection was better than most, however, in fact it was the best rejection I’ve ever had.

Take note, editors, agents, and mean reviewers: This is how you reject someone.

How wonderful! I looked up the poem she referenced, and it really is lovely. I know not every editor or agent has the time to send out a personalized rejection, but I appreciate the time she took to use this rejection as a means of encouragement.

I’m offering my paid subscribers a fun opportunity to explore a new type of creativity with me, and it has to do with this rejection! If you’re interested, feel free to upgrade your subscription, and you’ll be able to see what we’re working on. You don’t have to be a writer to participate, in fact, you might find that makes things easier!

Intrigued? I hope so!

As always, I love y’all.

Tristan

For our first assignment together, I’d like for us to…