Rejection. What Gives? As if Writing a Book Wasn’t Hard Enough, Right?

By Andrew Wood, @andrewtheauthor

Part of The Writer’s Life Series

JH: Writers face rejection every day, and some days are harder to face than others. Please help me welcome Andrew Wood to the lecture hall today to share his thoughts on rejection and how a writer can turn them to their advantage.

Andrew Wood’s first novel, Storm of Fury, was recently published through Inkshares. He’s been pursuing his dream job as a writer for five years, and devotes his time to writing novels and honing his craft. He loves stories, whether they be books, movies, video games or comics, and he’s always on the hunt for more. Andrew grew up on books like Redwall, the Wheel of Time and Harry Potter, and from stories like these his love of writing grew. Now he works full-time to tell the stories he has in his heart, and finally force them on to paper where they belong.

You can find him on Patreon under his name, where he releases monthly horror, fantasy and sci-fi short stories.

Twitter | Patreon

Take it away Andrew…

4 Ways to Survive Rejection as a Writer

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

It takes a lot of courage to write, and even more to send our writing out into the world. Writers face rejection on a daily basis, no matter what stage of their careers they’re at. When we’re starting out, we worry no one will like our stories. Then we worry our writing isn’t good enough. Later, we worry we’ll never get an agent, or an editor, or a publishing deal. And finally, we worry reviewers and readers won’t like our novels (it comes full circle, really).

At the core of all these worries, is the fear that we aren’t good enough.

Psychological Trump Cards That Cripple Us

By Bonnie Randall 

Special Guest Author

So I had an anxiety attack the other day—heart racing, sweats, irregular breathing, the whole nine yards—because I was considering the query process for my latest novel. 

Just considering it, mind you, (I haven’t even hit ‘send’ yet), and suddenly I was convinced of so many things: that my novel isn’t interesting. 

That no one wants to read a story about a haunted cop set in the Canadian Rockies. That not a single soul will ‘get’ the high concept underpinning this supernatural story. That every gorgeous love scene within it is nothing more than gratuitous sex. That even if my novel is worthy, it will be me who is rejected because I am ‘too old’, for surely no agent will think I can actually crank out enough material to make them a lucrative cut at this age—right? 

Oh, and my first published novel—my small press publisher is now defunct. Certainly somehow I will be blamed for that, won’t I? 

Or at least considered to have had bad judgment to go with them in the first place? And as a result it is a guarantee that no agent or editor will want to put a toe within a ten mile radius of my projects….right?

Pain, The Brain, Why Rejection Hurts and What You Can Do About It

By Bonnie Randall 

Special Guest Author

Writing is hard. Putting your writing ‘out there’ for consumption is harder. Placing your writing in front of an agent with hopes it will ascertain representation? Terrifying. Rejection hurts—far more than you might guess.

This week’s article is me speaking as the counselor as opposed to the writer, and the focus is self care and self awareness, specifically surrounding the pain felt upon experiencing rejection.