I recently had the pleasure of seeing Free For All at Town Hall thanks to dear friends Alice and Jacqui who worked on bringing this annual classical music event to New York City. Sunday’s program was Schubert, compliments of The Emerson String Quartet http://www.freeforallattownhall.org/. For a few hours I was lifted from writerly worries, and transported into a magical place of transcendent beauty. The music was filled with emotion and precision. The presenters, and the musicians themselves, who spoke afterwards, placed Schubert in historical context. They all viewed him as truly unique in the way he mixed a true romantic, lyrical sensibility with the control of the classical form. The program noted that Schubert was deeply self-critical and left behind an unusually large number of incomplete works. (Most notably “TheUnfinished Symphony”.)
In learning a great deal (viscerally and intellectually) about this great composer, who died at age 31, I was reminded of the silent truth of every writer, every artist’s life. Rejection is a part of our business. And often, like Schubert, writers tend to reject themselves first -- by not finishing work, or not trying to get it out there. We so deeply want to connect with likeminded folks, to find acceptance. But rejection is the norm.
Knowing that Schubert was not lauded till generations after his death, and hearing how deeply he criticized his own work made me wonder (forgive the cheap Sex & the City segue!) how writers handle the burden of creating art, first for themselves and then for the public? We are in a strange vocation, my friends!
I recently chatted with Colorado-based Young Adult author Sherry Ficklin. Sherry’s first novel comes out with Lilley Press in mid-November. Congrats, Sherry. But it took a while to get there. Sherry is 30 and this is her third manuscript.
Sherry, shared this about the rejection cycle: “We send off these seemingly harmless return envelopes hoping they will contain an enthusiastic ‘I love it! I must have it right now, and by the way the truck load of money should be arriving in ten minutes!' or even the simple, ‘Please send the entire manuscript.’ We'd even settle for, "This is good! But it still needs some work in chapter X". What we usually receive, however, is an impersonal form letter saying thanks, but no thanks. Sometimes it reads "after considering your work, I don't think it's right for me, but good luck with another agent/publisher." What we see when we read this note is actually, "This is horrible. I wouldn't line my bird cage with this trash and you should just get a job at a fast food joint, because you'll never hack it as a writer." Needless to say, those tiny emotional ninjas can send even the most confident writer into a downward spiral that usually ends up with me curled in the fetal position in the bathroom, clutching a bag of Oreos."
I am eating a bag as we speak! But for those of you minding your calories, please check out Sherry’s helpful 10 Tips for Dealing With Rejection: http://blog.sherryficklin.com/2009/01/09/query-letters.aspx: http://blog.sherryficklin.com/2009/01/09/query-letters.aspx
Reading the journals of great writers gives you a sense of how they dealt with rejection: product links here. Check out Kafka and Plath to really get a taste of their own personal hells.
Thanks for stopping by the Writer to Writer blog (that’s the official handle now) and please pick up more tips at:http://www.bangthekeys.comAs well as in my book B
How do YOU deal with rejection?
