I find Lisa Carver’s bracing words about rejection fun to read but painful to put in practice. Here’s some scientific proof that rejection physically hurts.
What makes me feel better about rejection? Reading about how it was meted out to writers I admire. This site’s a gold mine. Seeing the numbers of rejections juxtaposed with the millions of copies these books eventually sold provides crass balm to the wound.
Thought Catalog has nicely formatted some biting rejection letters to famous authors. Hey, if the editors of Knopf predict poor sales for On the Road and say they didn’t dig it at all, it proves they don’t know everything, right?
And then there’s Ursula K. Le Guin, kindly providing an early rejection she received for those of us who need a boost. “This is included to cheer up anybody who just got a rejection letter. Hang in there!” she tells us.
