How to Avoid the Rejection Blues?
by Chloe Zola
In my opinion there is no avoiding the rejection blues, and no one should spend time trying to do this. The rejection blues have been my biggest enemy and my best friend.
You get an email form a prominent agent, they are interested, they want to know your timeline, your vision, your platform. You email them back within the hour, and nothing.
You get a lead, a publisher is interested in printing your book. They are enthusiastic about the work about the style, about your voice. The next day, they have changed their mind.
Another promising agent replies to a query, they love the story, the artistry. Three chapters in- they back off. Don’t know how to market it.
These things are daily, if your lucky. These emails show up in your inbox and your stomach flutters and your face gets tense. You read the message in parts because the whole thing is too much to stomach. Your feeling was right, they aren’t going to pursuit you.
We take rejection to heart because we are human. It makes us better.
Mom whispered in my ear, it will make you stronger, as I cried at another lead gone awry.
There is something to be said about the manic nature of the creative process. About not having a schedule. About being completely and totally unknowing. About being your boss, your creator, your employee, your best friend and your worst critic all at the same time. About hovering back and forth over the line that separates optimism and self-doubt. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
And I have come up with a routine- not to avoid it, but to take it in stride. Cry a little at each rejection, imagine myself crawling underneath the covers for the remainder of my life, realize how small I am, stop crying, come up with a new idea, a new pitch, a new product, drag my ass out of bed, (or jump depending on how well the pep talk went), pee, bake.
I bake new things and I bake family recipes that have weathered a journey across the pond into Ellis Island. And I sift, and whisk, and knead, and roll- engaging my tactile memory to remind myself that all of this- writing and creating, is my most basic instinct, nothing more.
Buy now @ Amazon
Genre – Memoir
Rating – PG
More details about the author & the book
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