I was asked, “Anyone have tips to share on how to deal with getting writing pieces rejected?”
I've made my living writing papers for medical journals and research grant proposals to the Canadian Institute for Health Research and the US National Institutes for Health. Those funders and the best journals reject 80%+ of submitted proposals and manuscripts. I can't do the work unless I can manage frequent rejection.
Here's what I have tried to internalize.
1. Being rejected doesn't mean that I am incompetent. Everyone experiences rejection. It reflects how intense the competition is. Everyone in the competition is intelligent, has had decades of training, and works extraordinarily hard. Did you want to be a professional? Congratulations, this is what professionalism entails.
2. The people who decide whether your proposal is funded or your manuscript is published weren't selected for their compassion. Never expect kindness and you won't be disappointed. But even when the gatekeepers are cruel, there's almost always something to learn. I can submit a rejected paper somewhere else. So, when I get a rejection, I write myself a memo with a detailed response to every criticism. I treat each complaint as if it were constructive, even if it transparently was not. There's nothing gained by being argumentative. Even when the critic has misread the plain sense of your piece, you can at least restate it in a way that blocks that misreading.
3. Most importantly, I work on clarifying why I am writing. I'm not writing to beat the other competitors. Here's my scientific mission: I want to understand why the healthcare system does so badly in caring for the mental health needs of children and adolescents, and I want to make it work better. Whether an editor or a grant review panel thought others' work was better than mine doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because it's not about me; it's about suffering kids and families. The US Marines say, "FIDO," which means, "Fuck it, drive on."
Point 3 applies to my cancer writing. This time, it is about me: I am writing to learn how to live with cancer. I’m publishing because I will write better if I do. And to share what I learn.
Today is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, for all those who celebrate.
Brian, among the many things I revere about the book is that it was drafted in pen, on engineer's quadrille paper. My practice for decades.
100%!
And one of my treasures is a signed copy of Gravity’s Rainbow. A member of the Pynchon family worked for me at APA and she got my copy signed.