This past spring, I had the honor of being published in our school's literary and art journal, Ivy Leaves (http://www.andersonuniversity.edu/auvisualarts/ivyleaves/html2/index.html). I was ecstatic, partly because was desperate to check it off of my "Bucket List" for college, and partly because I had tried and failed before to publish something in Ivy Leaves. The sting of that first rejection haunted me, and I almost didn't try again. Thank God for my suitemates, who encouraged me to send something in!
Honestly though, this post is not about getting published, it is about getting rejected, because sometimes, you learn a lot more from failure than from victory.
I've mentioned before the poet who visited our campus this spring (http://jessegraves.weebly.com/). Jesse Graves inspired me in a lot of ways, but one of the most encouraging things he said was about his failures. "I'll send poems to journals," he said. "And 80% of the time, they get rejected." But that doesn't keep him from trying. He's now published two books of poetry, but that would never have happened if he had given up after his first rejection.
Kathryn Stockett (the author who wrote the award winning novel, The Help) was rejected by 60 publishers before her novel was finally published. As she says in an article: "In the end, I received 60 rejections for The Help. But letter number 61 was the one that accepted me. What if I had given up at 15? Or 40? Or even 60?" (http://www.more.com/kathryn-stockett-help-best-seller)
As disappointed as I was when I got the rejection email from Ivy Leaves last year, I am now grateful that I received it. Why? Because it taught me strive harder. When something is accepted, it seems finished. The publishers liked it, right? So why change anything? It is often failure that gives the motivation to try harder, dig deeper, write more richly.
Ultimately, it is the "try and try again" mentality of authors that usually leads to their success. Rarely does an author's first (or second, or third) work rocket them into fame. A few stars are born overnight, but for most of us, it is the slow plodding of a thousand late nights, large cups of coffee, and endless rejection letters.
I plan on sending some of my poetry to a few journals this summer. I'll probably get rejected, but you know what? I can be OK with that. I think I may start a Rejection Letter collection, it could be an interesting pastime.....
Remember, every "next time" could be THE time.... so don't give up trying!
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