Authors and writers are creative people by nature and it’s been my experience that the more “creative” someone is, the “thinner ” their skin tends to be.
Which is why the fear of rejection is probably the biggest obstacle to many author’s success.
Venessa Giunta writes about how the fear of rejection can keep writers from submitting your work. Lillie Ammann writes about the role rejection has played in her life (and how it played a major role in her meeting the love of her life!)
In case you think your fear of rejection could be solved by more letters after your name, Dr. Jean Murray has GREAT credentials yet even she deals with a fear of rejection. In her blog post When you Overcome your fear of rejection – it’s amazing what might happen! she writes about how unfounded her fear was… and what GREAT things happened when she stepped out past the fear.
Meanwhile, on Freelance Switch, Robert Janelle gives some great advice for writers and authors for “getting past your fear of pitching. In the post, he instructs writers to first get in touch with their fears where he attacks head yet another reason for fearing rejection, which is looking foolish.
Which brings up an EXCELLENT point. There are VERY good, rational reasons for a writer to fear rejection… because there are a multitude of reasons a publisher or editor might reject your work which have NOTHING to do with the quality of your submission. On the other hand, if you identify your primary fear as one of “looking foolish”… well, what’s at the root of that fear? Are you sending query letters out without proof reading them? Are you sending those letters to the mail box after they’ve spend the night under your cat’s litter box? Either of those are ENTIRELY under your control.
However, the Writing Career Coach says fear can be a good thing… it can act as a driving force instead of a limiting factor.
What’s your tip for harnessing fear into a driving force?
