Writers: You Can Get Through the Rejections

Smiling is something writers can sometimes struggle with. Perhaps you have not heard of the deaths Ernest Hemingway and Virginia Woolf. Both were talented writers, maybe the best male and female writers of their generation, and they died tragic deaths. Hemingway and Woolf both lost the gift of smiling, and committed suicide because of it. Smiling is important for the writer. Smiling goes hand in hand with happiness. Sometimes we do smile as writers when we are sad. This essay will explore when writer's are happy, when they can smile after a rejection, and how to live a life different than the masters of fiction.

Some writers die happy, but many don't. Alcoholism and drug abuse is big in the literary crowd, and was even more so in the times of Hemingway and Woolf. Sometimes a genius is found in a person who is lost in his or her own thoughts. For some writers, the only times they can smile, or be happy, is after they leave the day job and can explore an article or story of prose. Writers do not always attain happiness while they are writing, but there is nothing like the feeling of completing a project. It allows the writer to explore that which is inside of them. They cannot believe they came up with this sentence or that paragraph. It is here they find that alcoholism, drugs, and suicide are not the answers. This does not mean we will not have pain, but sometimes we can cry and let it pass.

Rejection is a reason many writers feel pain. Why write at all? You might say because everything you write is rejected. The writer wants to find a home for their work, but this is only part of the process. We can dream of being published in "The New Yorker" night and day, but success does not accumulate to the gift of smiling. Writing and completing a work can allow us to smile with joy.

We can live different lives as writers. Instead of popping open a keg after we complete a novel, we can spend time with those we love. Instead of escaping the world in writing, we can develop good relationships when we are not writing. Julia Cameron pointed out in "The Artist's Way" that a writer is in need of rewards. We should reward ourselves, but not in a self-destructive manner.

So we come to the conclusion that writing won't make us smile. This is true; it won't always make us smile. But the times the writing does allow us to find joy is worth all the rejections in the world.