There Is the Next Chapter, and Nothing Else

I want to admit a few things today about editing, writing, and my journey as a writer through the brutal course of authorship. Some people would say that what follows is wallowing in the negative, or a negative affirmation. I disagree. It is looking reality in the face and being honest with myself about it.

Despair Encroaches

As an author, so far, I am a failure. In 3 years and 7 months of writing and trying to get published, I have managed to get 6 poems and 3 short stories published. I have received 220 rejections for short stories and poems, and just over 450 rejections for novels in various genres. For everyone doing the math, that’s a success rate of about 1.3%—and a rejection in my inbox (or even by snail mail, how’s that for stacking atop junk mail? A special “no,” just for you!) about every 1.9 days. They don’t tend to arrive that way, though, they arrive in clusters, because calls for submission tend to occur in clusters. It can make the blow even worse.

I received 3 today, including one rejection from a former hold that had said, “maybe.”

Even for the foolhardiest, hopeful, determined, or stubborn among us, there is a moment, from time to time, when a sense of despair creeps in at the edges. You start to not want to open that email, because nothing good can be sitting there between the spam threads. You start to ask yourself, “Why write this?”

I have littered this blog and this website with answers to those questions of why, but the reality is, the feelings remain. I push through because I happen to fall firmly in the stubborn category. I believe I am as good as at least some of what I read, and eventually, statistics favor the disciplined. And to be clear, it is not motivation. It is habit. I write every day for 2 to 3 hours a day, because that is what I do. It is part of who I am. But that doesn’t mean it’s always easy, or that I always want to, or that I always believe.

Because I don’t always believe.

This isn’t just a piece about, “buck up and pull through.” I want to say, if you want to be an author, you need more than just thick skin. You need coping mechanisms. Here are some of mine:

-          Do not check your email anywhere near the time you are going to write.

Nothing ruins a writing session like doing it while you're sad about your most recent rejection pile. Have a time perhaps hours away from your writing window to check email, or at least check after.

-          If you have any acceptance letters, remind yourself of them.

Go read the piece and remind yourself you are good enough to make the cut. Sometimes it isn’t about good vs. bad; it’s about editor preference.

-          Read a few pieces that are bad, but published.

I don’t mean works you dislike but are objectively good writing. And don’t spend too much time here, because it can negatively impact your own writing. But sometimes, read a few pages of complete dreck that was professionally published and remind yourself if they can make it, you can too.

-          If you have beta readers you trust, who are honest with your writing, and they like your pieces, go read some of their feedback.

You’re looking for two things here. First, what did you do right? Emulate yourself in those cases. Second, it’s a great confidence boost to know a person who can and will be critical of you is saying, “Yes to all of this.”

Find more of your own, but these are some of mine. Even for disciplined people, even for motivated people, you need to find a method to cut through the moments of encroaching despair because those moments will come.

Don’t stop writing. The world needs more pieces that are yours, and new. Sometimes you need to ignore the temptation of quitting. There is the next chapter, the next short story, the next paragraph, the next sentence and nothing else.

Because writers write.