Books

Bookmark These #ShareYourRejection Tweets From Authors For Inspiration When Times Get Tough

by K.W. Colyard
Lumina/Stocksy; Laila Lalami/Twitter

Writers on Twitter are tweeting stories of their paths to publication using the #ShareYourRejections hashtag, and it's pretty great to read about the hard battles that even the most talented writers have had to weather in order to get their books published. I've got #ShareYourRejections tweets from 25 of your favorite authors to check out below, so you can draw some inspiration from their stories.

I hate to be the first to break it to you — and I sincerely hope I'm not — but rejection is part and parcel to the whole writer gig. I've been told my work was not a good fit for an outlet more times than I can count. I've been encouraged to apply again. I've been ghosted by editors who seemed to like my work before they disappeared into the night. But none of those experiences invalidate me or my work as a writer.

Rejection is almost never personal. Publishing outlets just don't have the space to publish every promising piece of writing that lands on the editor's desk. Sometimes you pitch something too early or too late. Sometimes that magazine or publisher is already tapped out on pieces about your particular subject. And yeah, sometimes your writing isn't up to snuff. None of those things mean that you'll never be published, however, or even that you'll never be published by that journal, magazine, or publisher. You have to let your rejections roll over you like water off a duck's back. Shake them off, and then get back to work.

Here are some #ShareYourRejections stories from 25 of your favorite authors.

Laurie Halse Anderson, author of 'Speak'

Fatimah Asghar, author of 'If They Come for Us'

Jami Attenberg, author of 'All Grown Up'

Wiley Cash, author of 'The Last Ballad'

Nicole Chung, author of 'All You Can Ever Know'

Leesa Cross-Smith, author of 'Whiskey & Ribbons'

Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of 'Here Comes the Sun'

Akwaeke Emezi, author of 'Freshwater'

Cathy Park Hong, author of 'Dance Dance Revolution'

Catherine Ryan Hyde, author of 'Pay It Forward'

Tiffany D. Jackson, author of 'Allegedly'

Laila Lalami, author of 'The Moor's Account'

Rachel Lucas, author of 'The State of Grace'

Cari Luna, author of 'The Revolution of Every Day'

Thomas Page McBee, author of 'Man Alive'

Shannon Messenger, author of 'Keeper of the Lost Cities'

Liz Nugent, author of 'Lying in Wait'

Nnedi Okorafor, author of 'Who Fears Death'

Jason Reynolds, author of 'All American Boys'

Matthue Roth, author of 'Never Mind the Goldbergs'

Michael J. Seidlinger, author of 'My Pet Serial Killer'

Elissa Washuta, author of 'My Body Is a Book of Rules'

Jennifer Weiner, author of 'Hungry Heart'

Chuck Wendig, author of 'Star Wars: Aftermath'

Ibi Zoboi, author of 'American Street'