Check out Daniel Clay's article entitled "Coping with Rejection" over at 5th Estate. It's interesting in a British way. For instance, his first line is "Rejection is part of being a writer the same way depression is part of being married." Last line: "Write what you believe in and what you care about, and take your pleasure from writing rather than how your writing is received. You might only be pleasing yourself if you follow this outlook – but at least you’ll be pleasing someone."Thoughts 0n this piece anyone?
2 comments:
Of course you should write for yourself, but if you're writing ONLY for yourself, you might as well just keep a journal. Writing for publication is a way of being part of a cultural conversation. And rejection is like someone saying Shut Up! as soon as you open your mouth.
It's going to happen, but you don't have to like it, or pretend you don't care and sit in the corner scribbling in your top-secret diary.
I think that last paragraph is excellent. Almost every writer will tell you about being rejected, if you think about it, you have to find somebody who loves your stuff but who also has space in the budget/stable/catlogue/whatever. That's got to be like looking for unicorn shit at the best of times!
I am pregnant, my husband is obsessively tidy and endlessly wanting things done/tided/sorted round the house which unfortunately, because he works 24/7, I have to do. I get very little time for writing and have realised recently that my writing can't be anything more than a hobby any more. So... I've recently made exactly that decision, to write something I love. A publisher would be just a bonus...
I'm British, of course, which is probably why I enjoyed that article so much!
Cheers
BC
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