by Linda L Kinyon

Created on: December 29, 2009

You have written what you perceive to be the perfect article or story. You submit it to a publisher and wait patiently for months, only to be rejected. Your heart sinks to your stomach and you feel nauseas and ill. You are now second guessing your writing ability. You may even consider never writing again.

The truth is, that this happens to all of us at one time or another in our writing careers. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and just as any art form (and writing is often an art form) one mans trash is another mans treasure. Pick yourself up off the ground and brush yourself off and re think your submission.

Did you use the right sprinkling of SEO (search engine optimization) words? Did you spell check it several times? Did you re read your submission to check its flow and readability? Finally, did you follow the submission guidelines?

After asking yourself these questions, you may wish to send the publisher a short note. In your note ask them what you might have changed in order to have had your article accepted. Perhaps the format was off or perhaps your article simply wasn't what they were needing for that periodical.

If the rejection was due to a format error try correcting it and resubmitting your article. If your rejection was due to it simply not being what the company was needing for that periodical ask them if they have a list of the various topics for each month and how soon you need to submit for selected months.

Finally, back to one mans trash is another mans treasure, research other companies that might be interested in your submission. Often researching what various periodicals are publishing will help you to be sending your submissions to the most likely places to be published.

Every great novelist has been rejected at least once in his or her career. Many have over 200 rejections on a single novel. Never ever give up hope or allow it to give you doubts about your writing ability. As in all art forms, you are allowed to slant things to your perspective and your view without being judged.

Learn to take criticism lightly and with a grain of salt. If you are prone to spelling or grammatical errors enlist a great spell check program and grammar check program. If you are always nervous, enlist a trusted friend to read through your submissions before you submit. Ask your friend to be honest with you and give you constructive criticism. Above all, never doubt your ability.

Learn more about this author, Linda L Kinyon.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.