How to Keep Writing When No One Seems to Want Your Writing
By: John Feldman
Tags: Writers On Writing, Writing Tips, Authors, Writing, Writers Block

How to Keep Writing When No One Seems to Want Your Writing

Photo by Nghia Le on Unsplash

You submit, submit, submit, and get rejection after rejection after rejection. Or worse, you hear no response at all. You hold your breath for months on end only to get no response.

What a slap in the face.

Regardless of your status as a writer, there’s one thing we can all openly talk about at the same level:

Rejection.

If you’re reading this and you’re not a writer, let me explain to you what writer-rejection feels like:

Imagine you walk into work every morning and you’re immediately punched in the face. You’re damn good at your job, but you just can’t get the boss to acknowledge it. Every idea you give them gets shot down. And the second you walk through that threshold each morning…Bam! (This is an extremely angry boss.) You think to yourself as the months and the days go on that maybe — just maybe — you’ll walk into work one day and you won’t feel the warm flesh and hard knuckles crack into your cheek — that you won’t feel the rejection. But with each passing day, you feel the punch, and you continue to lose hope.

I can tell you from first-hand experience that my long list of rejection letters takes up more space in my inbox than all other email types combined. But a majority of writers have a similar experience.

Stephen King wasn’t an overnight success and neither was James Patterson. These two struggled to sell their work for long periods of time and now look at them. They’re worth $400 million and $700 million respectively.

Want another one? J.K. Rowling wrote the final word of her Harry Potter series before the first book was even sold. And her net worth? How about $1 billion?

What makes them different? What makes them better than the Average Joe or Average Jane writer? The answer: Their persistence.

I understand the mental struggle — we all do. You can follow as many inspirational Twitter accounts as you want, but each Keep it up! and Hang in there! quote has less and less of an impact as time goes on in that writing career of yours that seems to have hit a wall. At some point, you consider shutting the laptop for good and dragging your feet through life at your nine-to-five.

But don’t do that. Promise me you won’t do that.

Instead, switch things up a bit. Try doing one of these.

Write in a different form

Have you spent three years working on your book and another two querying with no success? And in those five years, does it feel harder and harder to get excited about your story? At this point, you probably find your story so redundant you just want to put it through the shredder.

Why not try something a little different? Try something new to get a fresh perspective. Get away from that thing.

Here are some options:

Write a short story

Many professional authors use time between novels to write short stories. Or even take time between drafts to do so. Not only does it give you a break from your current work and allow you to write something new, but short stories don’t take nearly as long to write. Write away and then begin to submit to magazines — another entryway into being a published author. (Have you checked out Submittable?)

Write your promotional material

Certainly you have a website, right? (If not, you’ll need to get on that.) Why not hash out a few blogs? After all, blog posts and web links help your visibility on search engines like Google and Bing. Take a week or two to write some blog posts, then schedule them to be published over the next few months. Now you’re not only writing, but you’re marketing as well. Go you!

Write outside your genre

There are plenty of websites that hire freelance writers. Find one and see if you can write an article for someone else. Many people are simply looking for a column or post to be written for their website. They may not pay much, but do you know what a positive critique of your writing can do for your self-esteem?

Switch up your writing routine

I personally prefer to wake up at 4:30 to get in some quality writing time. I have a wife, two kids, a dog, and a house that screams at me to remodel it while I’m home. So I find writing while the world is asleep to be the best time for me. Once the sun comes up and the other eyes in the house open, my concentration is thrown out the window. Too much other stuff going on.

But that isn’t set in stone. And your writing routine doesn’t have to be either. If things become stale, switch it up. Are you a morning writer? Try writing at night. An indoor writer? Try going outside. Do you write in the home office? Try going to the local library for a week’s worth of writing. Just don’t get caught up browsing the bookshelves. The library is a nerd’s equivalent of the Internet.

Take a week off

But only a week!

People say this about many things, that taking some time off is healthy. I overheard in a gym once (I work out for about 30 minutes per year) that taking a week off from working out can do wonders not only for your body, but for your mentality.

And the same goes for writing. Or any profession. You have to give your mind a break. Go on a vacation. Or a staycation. Go hiking. Go to the beach. Or binge on Netflix. Think of anything besides writing for a week. You’ll come back as refreshed and energetic as ever.

Regardless of your status as a writer — well-known bestseller or little-known novice — we all run into issues with our writing. We all hit a creativity block. We all doubt ourselves and our stories. But it’s the ability to find ways around these roadblocks that separates the successful authors from the unsuccessful ones.