Teresa Driscoll - Author
  • Home
  • BOOKS
    • I AM WATCHING YOU - book club questions
  • Blog
  • My writing life
    • How to get published...
  • Telly days
  • Talks
  • Contact

Yes, but no but... ( Rejection and other circus animals)

11/27/2012

 
Picture
Deep breath for this blog for I am dealing with the Elephant In the Room. Shhh. Whisper.  REJECTION.

Oh dear. A  big fat Nellie lurking in the corner for me at the moment as I have  a novel on submission with my agent so even mentioning the topic ever so quietly feels a wee bit like tempting fate. But hey – you can’t write a blog for writers without a wink to the occasional elephant.

So, then. Rejection? A little caveat first with some touching of wood and giving of thanks – for what point whingeing?  What do I, after all,  have to moan about?  As a journalist and short story writer, I’ve made a very good living from writing for more than 25 years and every single day I ask - who else gets paid to do what they love, Teresa? To work from home? OK, so I get the occasional rejection for a story or feature pitch but for the most part I sell pretty much everything I write in these areas( she touches wood again vay vay fast) …

No. For me the open sore that is (lowering of tone ) rejection only truly began when in a fit of insanity I threw my hat in the ring to write novels.    

What you have to understand here is that I don’t mind rejection, per se. Not at all. It is not that I have some big ego; that I think there aren’t enough authors out there already.  It is just that I am worried about the environment.  Cross my heart. It’s the storage space, you see. The  novel currently on submission via my agent is actually (no surprise) not my first. I like to keep hard copies of all my old manuscripts so the husband is a little worried that if I do not get myself a book deal very soon, the whole family is going to disappear under a mountain of paper never to be seen or heard from again. It will be on the news. “Family rescued after 21 days trapped under folios of A4…”

I promise you that I have tried, in the interests of saving the environment, to give up writing novels but it is a bit like trying to give up breathing. I even went through a spell of pretending not to write any more books but it was like an alcoholic trying to hide the bottles.  

“Have you started another book, Teresa?”

“No, of course not. I’d have to be mad. Don’t be ridiculous. What kind of idiot do you take me for? Another book? Moi? No. Absolutely, definitely not…”

It would, of course,   probably be easier if publishers would stop being so darn encouraging. Near misses?

Let's just say I've had a few.

I was discussing this with a  fellow writer at a Society of Authors lunch (I’m a member via the short story career) and she laughed. "Dahling -  I had to write six books before I got a deal…”

Six? I didn’t know whether to be encouraged or appalled.

I think the truth is, no matter how many times you read all the hilarious rejection quotes for classic and best-selling novels, you probably only get to truly smile at your own    rejection slips once they are a part of your past. Once you actually have the  book deal. Until then you just have to take a deep breath, lower the voice and try not to catch the elephant’s eye.

Though Nellie, please feel free to watch this space (storage included).
  •  Photo with thanks to Justin Ennis



Comments are closed.
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Author

    Teresa Driscoll - journalist, author, mother of two and lover of great coffee.

    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    CATEGORIEs

    All
    Tips For Writers

    Archives

    September 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012

  • Home
  • BOOKS
    • I AM WATCHING YOU - book club questions
  • Blog
  • My writing life
    • How to get published...
  • Telly days
  • Talks
  • Contact