A friend of mine has been collecting rejections for quite a while now. I greatly admire her perseverance. I believe the general population could learn a lot from writers about the art of persistence which helps in working toward any goal.
Here are a few of my favorite quotations about rejection. At the least, they'll put a smile on your face. At most, they may serve as an affirmation to keep you moving toward your goal.
"Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinion of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself!" Katherine Mansfield
"Manuscript - something submitted in haste and returned at leisure." Oliver Herford
"Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good." Samuel Johnson
"It takes the publishing industry so long to produce books - it's no wonder so many are posthumous." Teresa Skelton
"An editor is a person who knows precisely what he wants but isn't quite sure." Walter Davenport
"Writers must not be tyrannized by their esteem for publishers or literary agents that they assume a rejection of their work is an irrevocable, dooming judgment." Leonard Bishop
"I was turned down more often than the sheets of a cheap motel." George Higgins, commenting on the first 14 books he had written which he couldn't get published.
A final couple from Dear Old Anonymous: "The most unfortunate thing that happens to a person who fears failure is that he limits himself by becoming afraid to try anything new."
"Patience is the writer's ultimate virtue. Checks are always a month late, contracts take forever, and overnight success takes at least ten years."
Here's wishing you overnight success that doesn't take ten years!
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