Rejection! Attack of the Evil Brain!
When I was a kid I thought the summers flew by too quickly. That’s nothing to how I feel as an adult! With business trips, a week being sick, family visiting and numerous writing projects (on top of a busy day job), June disappeared before I could even say hello.
So, “Hello, July, won’t you stick around a while?”
As a “yet to be published” author, rejection is on my mind quite a bit — especially now that six agents are reading one of my manuscripts and three agents are reading another. Logic tells me that all nine will NOT email with offers of representation. Rejection is a guarantee, in some form or another.
With that theme in mind, I want to share an article from Psychology Today that explores 10 ways that rejections affect us psychologically. (Read the article.)
These three are particularly troubling:
- Rejection created surges of anger and aggression.
- Rejection sends on a mission to seek and destroy our self-esteem.
- Rejection does not respond to reason.
Whoa. The article convinced me that all types of artists need tender loving care as they put their art in the public domain. No matter how much we tell ourselves not to take rejection personally, our BRAINS do a number on us. Perhaps zombies are altruistic when they run around eating those dastardly brains that try to sabotage our work.
Let’s remember that the literary agents (readers, friends, etc.) who reject our work aren’t the enemy. Often, it’s just our dumb old brains.
Thanks for sharing your fears Durango Writer. The brain needs help to find the key to the lock. Good luck with your two manuscripts! I hope you are able to maintain your center and focus in the face of rejection. :o)