Nonfiction by Anam Tariq

Rejections are of various natures — your admission application to a university is rejected, your opinion is rejected, your proposal is rejected, you are rejected and sometimes your submission to a literary magazine is rejected. Oh it hurts! I know. The first kind of rejection above was the one that hurt me the most. Still hurts. But the more important thing is how you overcome that pang of rejection, that stab which pierces right through your heart, metaphorically. Getting over it is the big achievement which should in fact be celebrated. So, how do you get over rejection? If you have successfully dealt with rejections in your life, then congratulations to you! It is an art which needs wisdom and patience. I will list here a few things that I do to get over rejections from literary magazines, which
you could as well see as ways to circumvent rejections in general:

1. I remind myself that one rejection is not so big of a deal. Afterall I possess so many other things, achievements, endowments in life for which I should be grateful.
2. I try to be patient and wait for good times ahead, acceptance from other magazines, etc., since after difficult times there is ease.
3. Once I receive a rejection, I take my revenge by submitting to more lit. mags.
4. To lighten up my mood after such bad news, I watch some series or movie.
5. Rejections don’t determine the quality of my poetry or prose, so I need not worry about them. My work which is just a rock for one magazine may be a gem for another. I know my art has potential, it has been loved by so many kind readers and that is enough for me.
6. Also, if I keep on working on my art I can improve it and become a better writer. I try not to get disheartened or give up writing even after getting rejected by several well known mags.
7. I try to submit work to those magazines that are eliciting submissions based on a particular theme. There we have more chances of acceptance.
8. Before submitting to lit. mags. I sometimes read the kind of poetry they have already published and see if their taste matches mine. It gives me an idea as to whether they will like my style of writing.
9. ‘Keep on submitting’ — that is my motto.
10. If it’s any comfort, you can check out this Rejection Competition by Reneé Bibby which may be some fun. I have tried it.
    I hope I helped you lessen your agony!