Last night I hosted a rejection party for my local chapter of Romance Writers of America. It was a "whine, jeeze, and chocolate" party, where I provided the wine and guests brought cheeses and desserts to share. We had categories for prizes, such as newbie (got the most recent first rejection), old hand (had the most rejections--that was me!), quickest (mere hours for an email submittal), slowest (3 years for an anthology submittal), smallest, snarkiest, kindest, etc. The prizes were inexpensive things likes chocolates, small stuffed animals, and vibrating lips (this WAS an RWA party!).
We had a great time laughing and commiserating with each other as we read out loud our rejection letters that were in the running for prizes. The sting of those negative words was magically swept away. Those who were new to the process found out what the stock phrases were for turning down a submittal, such as "I just didn't fall in love with the work." The whole point was to embrace rejections as part of being a professional writer, to realize that every writer receives them, and we shouldn't take them personally. I highly recommend every local writing group have a party to celebrate rejections!
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