Last week I blogged about coping with rejection after I had eight rejections all at once. (If I could work out how to link back to that post I would but I can't so I'm afraid you'll just have to take my word for it or scroll down the page!)
A couple of days later, I came across a really helpful article in the 2011 edition of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook (A&C Black) by a coach and trainer called Alison Straw. The article is called "Dealing With Rejection" and if you have a copy of the book (and I'm sure you have!) you can find it on page 659.
Alison outlines nine (I would have had to do ten!) key points on managing rejection and building up resistance to it, all of which I found extremely useful. Some of her suggestions include pausing and letting the dust settle, channelling negative emotions about the rejection into positive activity, asking others for advice, focusing on success and trying again.
It may be stuff we already know but the order in which the key points are grouped and the practical and positive stance the article takes, certainly helped me with my bruised ego when I read it. The quote at the end of the article from Sir Winston Churchill - "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm" is particularly apt for writers, although as I said in my previous post, we aren't supposed to call them "failures"!
If you are feeling in need of something to help you cope with rejection that doesn't involve strong liquor, high bridges or a trip to the local job centre, I would urge you to read this article for yourself. And while you are about it, take a look the website http://www.writersandartists.co.uk There is a wealth of information for writers on there (including how to cope with rejection!), guest blogs and links to other useful books and courses. Before you know it, you'll be so fired up, you'll have forgotten all about that rejection.
A couple of days later, I came across a really helpful article in the 2011 edition of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook (A&C Black) by a coach and trainer called Alison Straw. The article is called "Dealing With Rejection" and if you have a copy of the book (and I'm sure you have!) you can find it on page 659.
Alison outlines nine (I would have had to do ten!) key points on managing rejection and building up resistance to it, all of which I found extremely useful. Some of her suggestions include pausing and letting the dust settle, channelling negative emotions about the rejection into positive activity, asking others for advice, focusing on success and trying again.
It may be stuff we already know but the order in which the key points are grouped and the practical and positive stance the article takes, certainly helped me with my bruised ego when I read it. The quote at the end of the article from Sir Winston Churchill - "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm" is particularly apt for writers, although as I said in my previous post, we aren't supposed to call them "failures"!
If you are feeling in need of something to help you cope with rejection that doesn't involve strong liquor, high bridges or a trip to the local job centre, I would urge you to read this article for yourself. And while you are about it, take a look the website http://www.writersandartists.co.uk There is a wealth of information for writers on there (including how to cope with rejection!), guest blogs and links to other useful books and courses. Before you know it, you'll be so fired up, you'll have forgotten all about that rejection.
Good advice from Alison Straw to let the dust settle. I find it's a good idea to move onto something completely different for a while before going back to the rejected piece. I haven't been on the WAYB site for a while but have always found it useful.
ReplyDeleteI have copied the main points of the advice from Alison Straw's article onto a piece of paper and stuck it above my desk. Hopefully that means I'll cope with rejection better next time! Let me know what you think of the WAYB site.
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