DEALING WITH REJECTION by Kym Brunner

Rejection sucks – no matter if you’re talking romance, job offers, or novels. No one who wants something badly enough wants another someone to say, “No, thanks."

Unfortunately, rejection doesn’t stop after you’ve been published. Here are my latest letdowns: 

•  Proposals I’ve sent to festivals/conferences/bloggers don’t get any response. Not even crickets or white noise. Always makes wonder if I sent it to the right address, or if they don’t respond unless interested, or if aliens abducted that person (which is the choice I always pick). Of course it’s not me; it’s them.

• I had hoped to be on a Debut Author Panel at Printer’s Row this summer, but my book comes out three weeks AFTER the event and they wanted to have authors with books in hand (understandable, but still...rejected). Wah!

WHAT TO DO AFTER BEING REJECTED?

1.      Drink (coffee, tea, vodka, beer – your choice)
2.     Call friends and commiserate (but usually they don’t have a whole lot to add) 
3.     Write scathing emails to the blogger/organizer/festival and say you didn’t want to attend that stupid event anyway. (Not recommended unless you address it to yourself).
4.     Call it part of the process and move on. Even though you want to rant and scream, it’s usually not the best alternative. Besides, think of all the things you yourelf look at in one day and skip over without addressing––movies, books, dirty clothes pile, phone calls you never returned, dog’s water bowl has a dead fly floating in it––and you realize it might not be your project that was rejected…it’s just that LIFE IS BUSY.  People forget, move on, go out for dinner, need more sleep.

The thing to remember is…WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT, IT WILL HAPPEN.

There. I’ve said it. So you can forget all the worrying, complaining, and swearing (alright, swear away – it feels good sometimes), but keep on trying new things, submitting new projects, and checking your Tinder dates, and when the stars are aligned….the response you’ve been waiting for will come!  

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