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comment by veen
veen  ·  3676 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Real Writers Get Residencies...Right?

I really like this video by the world's best vlogging robot zefrank about rejection. One of the things he tells is that you should be somewhat grateful for rejection, as it means you're aiming high and trying how far you can go. A lot of people dont get rejected at all and are playing it safe. I hope you'll try your best anyway.





_refugee_  ·  3676 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Great video. I appreciate the words of support. Rejection really is just the name of the game in the poetry world. To be honest I've been lucky and mostly get really nice rejections, like, "we like your poems, they're just not right for us right now." it can be frustrating but then i write poems about it. Or they tell me "we like this it's just not right for us, send us other stuff in the future!"

The acceptance I received recently was really encouraging and I have been submitting even more. last year I submitted 110 poems total. I figure I'll double that this year. It's all per aspera ad astra here. Not everyone is going to like my stuff. I just flip this clip on and keep doing everything I can think of to learn more and get better because I figure that's my only option if I want to keep doing this, and I do.

Thanks again. I'd rather give the whole writing/publishing thing a shot and get rejected than live in a protected bubble. And I'm hoping to publish a collection later this year, though whether I do it through self-publishing or a press is TBD. I try just to not expect much. That way any return is positive.