Chloe Marcus

If you want to be a writer, you will face rejection [what?!?!]. I know it’s shocking!

It comes hand in hand with the territory. First, you face it in the query trenches, but even if you conquer those, your battle isn’t over. Next you have revisions, editors, publishers, and if you get through to publication, you have the public to contend with [silent scream].

So how do we face the unavoidable fact that if you write, or do art of any kind, some people might think it’s crap. What’s the solution? Well, the fact is you can’t please everyone. You will always have critics. Some which have good points. Be willing to grow in your craft. No one ‘arrives’ and says, yep, I’ve perfected that now. There is always room for growth.

When you feel particularly combative with constructive feedback, you have to ask yourself, am I taking this too personally? Now, of course, our stories are personal. They’re our little children we’ve spent hours slaving over, nurturing, and caring for. We’ve sacrificed our sleep and sometimes a bit of our sanity for these monsters! You absolutely should love your work and be proud of it. Just don’t make the mistake of letting it define you.

You might write a flop, or a long meandering story that when it comes down to it is about nothing [not like I’m speaking from personal experience or anything… cough]. But still, even if you write something that is utterly terrible and everyone hates it, wallow a little, slog through the depression, then get back up. Learn something from it and try again. If you’re afraid of failure, you’ll never grow. Embrace it and examine it objectively. That was a failure, not I am a failure. Big difference.

Now the trolls who just want to stir up trouble ignore. They are entitled to their opinion, but you don’t have to cross that bridge or pay the toll. Just pass by, let them bother someone else. Surround yourself with others who will be honest about your work, the good, the bad, the ugly, the amazing.