Learn to Love Your Rejection Letters

Hi,

Hope you're not taking as long as I am getting back in the "writing" saddle this year. I have one excuse, I'm in the middle of a moving and building a house, both of which have to be completed by the 29th. I keep telling myself, "Stephen King wouldn't let a little thing like this keep him from writing."

Loads of Rejection Letters

While packing last night, I came across my rejection letters. When I started writing scripts over 20 years ago, one of the ways I stay motivated was to reread my rejection letters — and I had a LOT! They filled a three-ring binder.

They ranged from the harsh rejection, "NOT FOR US!" to the less painful, "Contact us again after the next draft." My favorite is the tiny rejection letter (1" x 2") that read, "Not interested" on one side and had the agency's address printed on the other.

My Buddies

Since I write for a living now, I decided it was time to move on and recycle the letters. It's not like I could sell them on Ebay or anything. So, off they went. And I was actually sad (still am a little) to say goodbye to them.

Why? They were my buddies for years and kept me writing. I know it sounds strange, but I figured only writers get rejection letters. People who think about writing, plan on writing, consider writing, or talk about writing, do NOT have rejection letters. And probably every famous writer out there has had his share of rejections letters. It's part of the journey. And I wanted to get going on that journey.

In short, every letter confirmed I was a writer.

Granted, getting published and produced is more fun than receiving a rejection letter, but I will always have fond feelings toward those pieces of paper. I may have to dig out an especially nasty one from the recycle bin to keep me company on my next phase of the journey.

di

10 Tips to Staying Motivated

Writing isn't a team sport. Other writers don't come up — like athletes — slap us on the butt and say, "Way to go!" (Which is probably a good thing.) We are in charge of keeping ourselves motivated.

Since I've been writing for quite a while, I have come up with quite a few ways to keep myself motivated. Here are my top 10.

1. Read something inspirational each day. Today's was "When you lead a big, full life, it's idiotic to think that your missteps are gonna be small. And to me that's a risk worth taking." Oprah Winfrey.

2. Try something new. What you learn can both improve your stories and inspire you. I'm taking a bookmaking class, which at the very least is demonstrating how much better I am at writing than bookmaking.

3. Celebrate every step. My motto has always been "Don't waste good excitement". Heck, five rejection letters are worth a celebration — that means you're marketing and getting your stuff out there.

4. Keep a journal of all the positive steps you've made. Read it over when you're down. My writer's group kept one of these. It was pretty amazing to see what progress we'd made over the years.

5. Find someplace fun to write. Sure, you can take your laptop to a coffee shop, but what about taking your paper and pen to the beach, a little bed and breakfast, or a nice spot in the woods?

6. Do what research you can do in person versus over the internet. Talk to people, get out and check out new locations. It's fun!

7. Surround yourself with enthusiastic people that want to see you succeed. Don't limit yourself to a writers group.

8. Visualize your success and don't worry about the failures. I read that athletes who visualize perfect performances also improved their performances. So start thinking of cool stuff.

9. Teach. Giving back and tapping into the excitement of others does wonders for the psyche.

10. Read fabulous works. You not only find inspiration, but you can get an good education at the same time.

Wow, this was kind of inspiring just writing this. I'm off to my story.

di