Inkpunks

Our guest post this week is another reminder to keep focused on your writing and keep your chin up. It’s from our friend Steve Bein, whose newest novel, Disciple of the Wind, is due out April 7th.

Winter is coming. These are the words of House Stark, and in my opinion they’re pretty good advice for up-and-coming writers. (Maybe for well-established writers as well; I’ll let you know as soon as I consider myself well established).

The logic of it works like this: assume you’ll never publish anything. Ever. Then, every time you get a nibble of interest, it’s a lovely surprise. It brightens your whole day. But when your next rejection slip comes in, it’s no big deal. Sure, winter is coming, but psychologically speaking, you’re already dressed for the occasion.

Or maybe this seems too bleak to you. Maybe you think I’m being hyperbolic, and if I tell you I’m not—and I’m totally not—then maybe you want to say I’m being overly dramatic.

The truth is, for writers the future is bleak.  It’s hard to overstate how long the odds are against us. Even among the most gifted of us, almost everyone gets rejected almost all the time. In fact, the market is so merciless, so utterly wayward, that the New Yorker actually rejected a story it had already published. This isn’t some new semi-pro zine we’re talking about. This is supposed to be the best in the business.

So yeah, not only is it true that you’ll get rejected almost all of the time, but the rejections you get might not even be based on what you wrote. Only the pessimists and the Starks can take solace in that.

So now maybe we’ve gone beyond bleak for you. Maybe you want to say, “If this is your outlook, why bother writing anything at all?”

Well, duh: write because you love writing. Write because you can’t not. Write because it sure beats sitting on your ass watching TV. Just don’t write because you think you’re going to publish anything. Be an optimist and you set yourself up for heartbreak every time a new rejection slip comes blowing in.

Instead, know that winter is coming. Expect rejection every time you submit. That way, when you finally do get published, it comes as a big, warm sunbeam breaking through the wintry clouds of despair. Not that you despair, of course. All writers live in sight of these clouds, and most live directly under them. But while all those shivering, teeth-chattering optimists are dressed in Speedos, you’re comfortably clad in your parka of pessimism.

When your book comes out and everyone loves it, and Hollywood offers you a million dollars for the film rights, and you have to reinforce your floorboards to hold up the sheer weight of all the awards you’ve won… well, I still say winter is coming. Assume success isn’t going to last. Recognize that victory is winged, she flies away fast, and you need to savor every last moment in the sun.

Don’t take my word for it. Don’t take Ned Stark’s, either. Field-test it. Write just for the love of writing, and see what happens if you submit on the assumption that you’re not going to get published. Try that for the next six months and see if it makes you feel better about the rejection slips. And then let me know how it goes for you. I’m the guy in the igloo next door, wrapped up in a big, comfy parka of pessimism.

Steve Bein is the author of DISCIPLE OF THE WIND, due out April 7th, and STREAMING DAWN, available now for your e-reader. His first two novels, DAUGHTER OF THE WIND and YEAR OF THE DEMON, were met with critical acclaim. Please visit him on the Web (www.philosofiction.com), follow him on Facebook (facebook/philosofiction) and Twitter (@AllBeinMyself). You can email him—and he’s totally sincere about that invitation in the last paragraph, by the way—at [email protected].

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dealing with rejection, for the love of writing