Thank you for your reassuring and honest take(s) on the trials and tribulations of writing and revising! I hit send on my book MS in December. The editor liked it and sent it along to readers. I should hear back any day now. Maybe they’ll reject the MS and I’ll have to begin the process all over again. If (happy day) they say yes, I will no doubt be up to my ears in revisions. But that will still be a very happy day! Here’s my question…how do you cope with rejection of a ms? Hopefully this doesn’t happen, but it does happen, and I am preparing, just in case. Great to see you today! :)
Thank you for the kind words about my wordsmithing - great to see you virtually yesterday, too!
The answer to your question: depends on the genre (op-ed pitch at one end, book ms for tenure at the other), the stakes of that particular submission, your temperament... If putting bread on the table isn't on the line, then the intellectual stimulation of getting feedback far outweighs the introduction of additional steps for me.
That said, I haven't had a book ms rejected (yet), and rejected articles I revised, sent out, and were published by the second place, so my exposure to high-stakes rejections of complete mss has, *so far*, been low.... There is this saying: if you're not being rejected, you're not aiming high enough.
But perhaps part of my flippant attitude is a framing: most things have not felt to me like high-stakes submissions, since there are many, many other publishers, journals, op-ed venues, and so on. If you can coax your mind into this lane, then feedback - even if it's annoying or accompanied by a big "R" - is input that helps make you improve the book.
By the way, the Renaissance Society of America is hosting a free webinar late this month on "Surviving Peer Review" - anyone who is a member can attend and can also listen to the recording for a year afterwards. (April, I know you're a member - and perhaps a certain convenor of the session, who receives my newsletter, will chime in if she sees this comment! :-) )
Well put, Surekha - and thank you! I fully agree that receiving productive feedback (regardless of whether the essay/book was accepted or rejected)...as long as it is productive... is incredibly valuable and always much appreciated. Long ago I received very unproductive and cruel feedback on a piece I submitted for publication, to the point that the editor apologized and offered that they would find another reviewer who could offer a fairer and more productive assessment. I believe that there was more to this rejection and the reader who was selected, but I won't get into that because the ultimate outcome for me was very positive. I never published the book. Five years later I turned a 120 page MS into a 17 page essay that was published in one of my favorite academic journals. The article has attracted a larger readership than a book on that particular topic might have done. I am convinced that everything happens for a reason. Regardless of the outcome of the peer reviews and fate of the current MS, I am confident that I will receive productive feedback that will surely strengthen the overall. Still - fingers crossed! I am in the fortunate situation of having tenure, dinner on the table, and roof over my head.
Gosh - a fascinating story! Rejections, cruel critique, and roadblocks suck... I take heart from remembering that any idea or observation could lead down dozens of rewarding paths and forms of writing. As we prune away our darlings, they can go in a folder labelled "treasure box". And even if they never seem to leave the box, they shaped the kind of writer and thinker we became.
I loved this! Very inspiring. I could just picture you typing away at that breakfast table.
Thanks, Leah! Now you have me wanting to write an essay on writing locations...
Thank you for your reassuring and honest take(s) on the trials and tribulations of writing and revising! I hit send on my book MS in December. The editor liked it and sent it along to readers. I should hear back any day now. Maybe they’ll reject the MS and I’ll have to begin the process all over again. If (happy day) they say yes, I will no doubt be up to my ears in revisions. But that will still be a very happy day! Here’s my question…how do you cope with rejection of a ms? Hopefully this doesn’t happen, but it does happen, and I am preparing, just in case. Great to see you today! :)
Thank you for the kind words about my wordsmithing - great to see you virtually yesterday, too!
The answer to your question: depends on the genre (op-ed pitch at one end, book ms for tenure at the other), the stakes of that particular submission, your temperament... If putting bread on the table isn't on the line, then the intellectual stimulation of getting feedback far outweighs the introduction of additional steps for me.
That said, I haven't had a book ms rejected (yet), and rejected articles I revised, sent out, and were published by the second place, so my exposure to high-stakes rejections of complete mss has, *so far*, been low.... There is this saying: if you're not being rejected, you're not aiming high enough.
But perhaps part of my flippant attitude is a framing: most things have not felt to me like high-stakes submissions, since there are many, many other publishers, journals, op-ed venues, and so on. If you can coax your mind into this lane, then feedback - even if it's annoying or accompanied by a big "R" - is input that helps make you improve the book.
By the way, the Renaissance Society of America is hosting a free webinar late this month on "Surviving Peer Review" - anyone who is a member can attend and can also listen to the recording for a year afterwards. (April, I know you're a member - and perhaps a certain convenor of the session, who receives my newsletter, will chime in if she sees this comment! :-) )
Well put, Surekha - and thank you! I fully agree that receiving productive feedback (regardless of whether the essay/book was accepted or rejected)...as long as it is productive... is incredibly valuable and always much appreciated. Long ago I received very unproductive and cruel feedback on a piece I submitted for publication, to the point that the editor apologized and offered that they would find another reviewer who could offer a fairer and more productive assessment. I believe that there was more to this rejection and the reader who was selected, but I won't get into that because the ultimate outcome for me was very positive. I never published the book. Five years later I turned a 120 page MS into a 17 page essay that was published in one of my favorite academic journals. The article has attracted a larger readership than a book on that particular topic might have done. I am convinced that everything happens for a reason. Regardless of the outcome of the peer reviews and fate of the current MS, I am confident that I will receive productive feedback that will surely strengthen the overall. Still - fingers crossed! I am in the fortunate situation of having tenure, dinner on the table, and roof over my head.
Gosh - a fascinating story! Rejections, cruel critique, and roadblocks suck... I take heart from remembering that any idea or observation could lead down dozens of rewarding paths and forms of writing. As we prune away our darlings, they can go in a folder labelled "treasure box". And even if they never seem to leave the box, they shaped the kind of writer and thinker we became.