Some of the stories you write you just know are good. Not only do all your friends praise it, but when Ray Bradbury read it he praised it, too.<\/p>\n
So how come a story like that gets rejected over and over again? And not just form letter rejections, but personal rejections. Always personal rejections. And more than one of them tells you, \u201cwe can\u2019t use it just now, but I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll have no trouble finding someone to take it. And please send us something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
So if you\u2019re that good, if they like the story, if they want to see more of your work, then why did they reject this story? It\u2019s hard to say. Sometimes rejection happens because the editor just bought a couple of stories that are similar to yours. Perhaps you wrote a time travel story, but he just bought two of them and he had four appear in the magazine so far this year. He just can\u2019t take another, no matter how good or how unique yours is. <\/p>\n
Getting published is not just about your talent. It is not just about knowing your craft and being good at it. Being good at writing is simply a given in the world of publication. A lot of good writers get rejected every day. Rejection is not necessarily because you\u2019re incompetent; often, it has nothing at all to do with your competence. It\u2019s just a business decision. What you wrote doesn\u2019t fit the need of the publication right now. Sometimes that\u2019s all it is.<\/p>\n
So what do you do? One of the most important traits for any prospective author, for any author at all, even if he has been frequently published, is perseverance. You have to keep on trying. You have to refuse to stop trying. Giving up is the one sure fire way to avoid getting published. Never giving up, taking a beating, and sticking to it is the way you will succeed.<\/p>\n
In baseball, a good hitter is one that makes it to first base only once out of every three tries. If you fail two out of three times\u2014if you fail 66 percent of the time\u2014then you are a very good hitter. And every time you get up to bat, you may see several balls go past you before you get that hit. You might get two strikes, maybe two or three foul balls, and two or three balls before you swing and connect and hit it just right so that the ball falls between the opposing players and you scramble fast enough to get on base. Or maybe, you get on base only because one or more of the players on the other side does something wrong\u2014they make a mistake and you\u2019re safely on base only because of their screw up. It counts for you, but you know that all things being equal, you\u2019d have been out.<\/p>\n
Writing is often times the same way. There is a whole lot of failing and a whole lot of luck involved, even if you are at the pro level.<\/p>\n
So don\u2019t give up. Don\u2019t get discouraged. Keep at it. That\u2019s the only way you\u2019ll ever get anywhere.<\/p>\n
This segment of Rudyard Kipling\u2019s famous poem, If describes how a writer must be:<\/p>\n
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
\nAnd risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
\nAnd lose, and start again at your beginnings
\nAnd never breathe a word about your loss;
\nIf you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
\nTo serve your turn long after they are gone,
\nAnd so hold on when there is nothing in you
\nExcept the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’<\/p>\n
Kipling ends his poem by stating, that if you can do all this, then \u201cYours is the Earth and everything that\u2019s in it,\/And\u2014which is more\u2014you\u2019ll be a Man, my son.\u201d I would tweak Kipling\u2019s words and change the last line to, \u201cYou\u2019ll be a writer.\u201d<\/p>\n
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