Getting Over Rejection

Someone, somewhere is waiting for your story.

Greetings, Substackers! I hope everyone had a great and productive week. I’m here today to light a fire under your chair before the weekend—send those rejected pitches back out, everyone!

When I was growing up, (particularly in my teenage years) whenever I was in the dumps about something, my mom would give me a “pep talk,” that would buoy my spirits and self-confidence. If you’re looking for a million-dollar idea, here it is: a dollar-a-minute pep talk hotline, where someone encourages you in your endeavors as a writer, tells you “You can do it!”, and erases your bad feelings about being rejected. (If tele-psychics and phone-sex operators can do it, why can’t Dial a Pep-Talk!?) My mom was great at teaching me to problem solve, pull up my bootstraps, tackle stuff I was avoiding, and in her ever-wonderful native New Yorker way, come up with stuff like: “I know this feels like a boil covering your whole body right now, but pretty soon it’ll just be like a pimple on your ass.”

One of the toughest things about freelancing is getting a “no” from an editor you pitch (or simply not hearing anything back at all). It’s so easy to fall into the trap of feeling bad about it and then letting the idea languish or get set aside. The story never gets told or the idea just kind of fades away. Don’t let this happen to you, folks!

Consider this your pep talk.

I recently decided to dig real deep into past pitches—story ideas I really loved, but that after getting rejected once, I sort of gave up on. That’s just silly! Especially since some themes that I I care less about have managed to get tons of traction by tweaking the angle of a story and getting it published in numerous places.

In 2008, I was living in Houston, Texas and was introduced to Antone’s po’boy sandwiches. I learned the backstory of how Jalal Antone, the child of Syrian immigrants, created a unique chow chow recipe and built a sandwich empire. I first pitched the idea in 2010 and after a couple of rejections, let it go. Well…it’s currently a story I’m getting ready to submit to BBC Travel, and it only took me 14 years to get the gumption to revisit the pitch, sharpen it up, and submit the idea to a new editor with confidence.

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The idea was never the problem! It wasn’t that the idea was bad—it just wasn’t a good fit for whoever I originally sent it to. Don’t fall into the trap of rejecting your idea because it’s rejected by a publication.

Here are some famous rejection stories:

*Stephen King’s manuscript for Carrie had 30 rejections—and he threw the draft into the trash. His wife fished it out, he submitted it to another publisher, and the book went on to sell over 4 million copies and was made into a movie.

*In 1998, the creators of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, offered to sell their startup to Yahoo! for $1 million dollars and got turned down. Womp, womp, as the kids say today: Google is now worth over $1 trillion dollars.

*Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was rejected 12 times by publishers before it was accepted. We all know what happened next—J.K. Rowling is laughing all the way to the bank as one of England’s wealthiest people.

*Steven Spielberg was rejected twice by the USC film school, who later gave him an honorary doctorate after his success with films like E.T., Jurassic Park, Jaws, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It’s a numbers game, people.

There will be some people who don’t want your idea. That’s ok, because there will be someone who will! Someone somewhere is waiting for your pitch. The trick is to not talk yourself out of it and make excuses, but to be persistent and keep trying—the ‘yes’ is out there waiting for you! If you’re a believer in the law of attraction and the universe tuning in to the energy you’re putting out, the phrase “What you want wants you” will resonate.

Sometimes when I’m writing a pitch, it’s almost like a light gets switched on in a dark room—I can feel the excitement about an idea and the words just seem to flow. The vibe is just humming with energy, I feel confident about the idea, and I’m thrilled to submit it—more often than not, those are the stories that get accepted.

Next week, I’m going to dig deeper into the re-pitching process and give you tools and devices to rework your pitches and submit them for publication somewhere else, so be sure to tune in for that! Leave me your re-pitch success stories in the comments—I can’t wait to hear them!

Recently Published Work:

*Shop TODAY: Comfortable, flattering and versatile, this Amazon top is my new summer staple

*AARP: These Travel Dupes Offer Bucket-List Experiences for Multigenerational Trips

*BBC Travel: Trail Ridge Road: The US’ Inspiring “Highway to the Sky”

What I’m Working On:

*A profile of Wyoming Whiskey for VinePair

*The Surprising Syrian Origins of Texas’ Favorite Condiment for BBC Travel

*Show Your Home column for The Tennessean

*Denver bars featuring Bombay Sapphire’s signature summer cocktail for Eater

Where to Next:

*July: Six Flags Savannah Sunset Resort, New Jersey, followed by two days in New York City

*September: Dubai, UAE for the opening of the Waldorf Astoria Residences

*October: Lisbon, Portugal for a culinary tour