I’ve been in publishing mode. I had a bunch of essays that aren’t necessarily part of my in-progress memoir that I’ve been sitting on so I’ve been sending them out to various publications. I have to admit, submissions/querying is a scary process. You work so hard on the writing, only to end up wondering if it will ever see the light of day….
I was super encouraged to read that Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel, The Help, was rejected SIXTY times! It’s not so much schadenfreude as it is encouragement and motivation to not give up. Stockett shares her experience in this article on Shine.
While the premise of the article is to not give up on your dream and to keep sending out your writing, I think it’s important to note that Stockett kept revising and improving her novel whenever she got feedback from an agent or editor on why it was rejected. Perseverance is all good and well, but perseverance without a good product is pointless. Stockett worked like mad—even to the point a nurse had to tell her to put the book down because she was going into labor—to make her manuscript the best it could possibly be.
The moral: Find out why your writing got rejected and use the criticism to improve your work.
PS: This works in all areas of your life.
Stephanie Nikolopoulos 
Love this (specifically the post script). I’ve been thinking lately about writing about not saying the phrase “dream big” anymore unless it has the disclaimer of “work hard” attached. If I get back into blogging I’ll probably do it.