Name: Tess
Home: St. Louis
Thoughts on Rejection
I recently attended a St. Louis Writer's Guild lecture by Mary Troy, who directs the MFA program in creative writing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Since I've written about rejection before, and since I know some of my readers are currently submitting or are about to submit their creative work in hopes of publication, I thought I'd share what Troy said on the subject.
During the Q&A session, someone asked how to handle rejection. Her response? "You should never get discouraged by rejection slips. All they mean is that you're sending out your work." She also shared that every semester she has a contest for her grad students to see who can accumulate the most rejections--and that often, the person who wins also gets the most pieces published. She added, "If you understand the odds, you won't worry about rejection. You might want to kill yourself, but you won't worry about rejection."
During the Q&A session, someone asked how to handle rejection. Her response? "You should never get discouraged by rejection slips. All they mean is that you're sending out your work." She also shared that every semester she has a contest for her grad students to see who can accumulate the most rejections--and that often, the person who wins also gets the most pieces published. She added, "If you understand the odds, you won't worry about rejection. You might want to kill yourself, but you won't worry about rejection."
posted by Tess | 4:43 PM
3 Comments:
So I'll have to tell my husband that his job is to talk me off the ledge when the stack gets too big....
I just read through several critiques of my MS from other writers. Amazing the varied reaction! Two passages in particular:
the historical preface - one person loved it and thought it evoked such a sense of place; one person said it was dry and too long.
the first description of Mathilda listening to Arie's music - one reader thought it was over-the-top purple prose; another said it was a fantastic description of emotion.
I cannot win. No sense trying.
I think it's helpful to remember that the editors are just regular people, too: They may not always be right (as evidenced by the fact that two editors can give diametrically opposing views) and they aren't necessarily smarter or more talented than the people submitting work to them, either.
Just something to think about. :)
Carrie, am I too late to get you a critique? I'm sorry I've fallen so behind. I'm also completely unfamiliar with the conventions of romance novels, so I'm hesitant to be too definite about my opinions.
Karen, you have a good point. That's where I think targeting a submission becomes important--if you can get a sense of the general likes and dislikes of a particular set of editors, that ups your chances of having your work chosen.
Post a Comment
<< Home