I’ve blogged about rejection before, but I’ve been inspired by a comment on a previous post to revisit the subject. The question posed was “How do you overcome rejections and not let them get you so down you can’t write?”

And here is my answer: perhaps you don’t write.

Instead, perhaps you take a time out to miss writing, to remember why you love it, and to recover your passion for the act of creating stories or for the burning desire to be published.

That’s what I did. After receiving a rejection phone call 8 hours into a 12 migraine, I fought the urge to slap together a new proposal and take that out shopping to all the publishers. Instead, I forced myself to take a time-out. And while I was not writing, I was still thinking up characters, and stories, and world building. I missed writing. I realized that this was what I really wanted, and something that I was willing to fight for, to suffer for. I also realized that I needed to work on a new project.

When I sat down to write a new proposal, I was inspired. When my agent sent it back for revisions numerous times, I promptly set about fixin’ what needed fixin’. I knew that this proposal could be rejected–and lordy that was a frightening thought! Which brings me to another suggestion: If you can’t imagine a positive outcome, and least refuse to dwell on the negative ones. Add “possible rejection” onto your List Of Things Best Left Un-thought.