Quotes

14 Writing Quotes on Rejection and Anxiety

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In: The Writing Life

Welcome to the Writing and Wellness annual “writing quotes” round-up!

Below you’ll find the best quotes from the authors featured on the site this year.

This is the eighth year I’ve put these together. They’ve all been popular posts and I love how they capture certain overarching themes in the writing life.

You can view past quote pages at the following links:

This year, writers talked a lot about anxiety and rejection. Seems we’re all feeling a little edgy lately, which makes sense considering everything that’s going on.

Writing Quotes: Thoughts on Rejection

“I think the biggest emotional challenge for most writers is rejection. Writing is a competitive business. There are way more authors needing publishers than publishers needing authors. So, rejection is more the rule than the exception. But it’s still hard to take. I usually can’t write at all for a day or two after receiving a rejection.

But this is one place where my 16-year yoga practice really helps me. Yoga teaches that we have the right to our labors but not necessarily to any particular fruits of our labor. In other words, my job is to write. The job of others is to either publish my work or decide not to.”
~Kathryn Bashaar

Quotes Rejection

“I’m crushed every time I get a rejection but…I give myself a very short grace period to be hurt, and then I do the proverbial “get up and dust myself off” thing. I try again, or I take a new approach, or I take a break and start something else.”
~K. L. Murphy

“Publishing is a tough nut to crack, and even writers who are successful continue to get rejections. But the more rejections I accumulated, the less each one stung, and when I started accumulating successes, too, that helped balance out the bitter feelings of not being good enough.

Now when I get rejections, I can usually just let it roll off my back, and instead of seeing it as a failure see it as an opportunity to try again.”
~Jo Kaplan

“It’s important to remember that you will never please everyone—and if you do, it’s likely you won’t be making many waves.

A dear friend of mine told me once to expect that 20% of your readers won’t like your work. So if you reframe your thinking to expect some degree of rejection, then when it comes (and trust me, as a writer you will get plenty of rejection), you stare rejection straight in the face and say, ‘Oh, there you are! I was waiting for you. Now move along.'”
~Jordan H. Bartlett

“By far the hardest part is the rejection. It’s so easy to want to give up. But as someone once told me, it only takes one yes. That’s what got me through all the rejection.”

~Bryan Johnston

Writing Quotes

“Like any other creative pursuit, whether it’s the theater or music or fine art, a goal requires hard work and a spirit that is relentless, never permitting a rejection, or many rejections, to crush your spirit.

Of course, you’re disappointed, but if you want to indulge in self-pity, please set a timer. Then get back to work. Rethink, retool, start from scratch, but keep writing.”
~Pat Broderick

Writing Quotes: How Writers Deal with Anxiety

“Dealing with anxiety has been a critical part of my life, especially when it comes to my writing. I have clinical anxiety and depression, so making sure I take care of my mental health is a big priority for me. I see a psychiatrist to help keep my mental health in check.

I also work on various projects at the same time. This way, if I’m querying one title, I can focus on writing another story instead of wondering if the querying title will be picked up.”
~Brandie June

“So much of writing and the publishing process takes an immense amount of time. Months can go by with no movement, no change, and as a result, you can feel completely hopeless and out of control.

It is very anxiety-inducing, waiting and waiting around with no news for weeks…The one thing you can control is how you spend your time while waiting for responses: you can either do nothing, which will make the time pass slower, or you can work on new projects, which will distract you and keep your life moving forward.”
~Aamna Qureshi

“I think that any good writer is emotionally challenged at some level. Otherwise, how could we create and write about the emotionally damaged characters in our stories?

Readers expect authenticity in our characterizations. If we haven’t felt things like grief, anxiety, depression, love, and fear, then how can we create such authentic interpretations?”
~Michael Bradley

“One of the intense emotions I experienced early in my writing career, was a fear that I was a “pretender,” that I wasn’t a writer in the way well-read authors are. Yet rather than give feet to that idea, I kept writing through the thought. I meditated, I walked, I trusted myself, I trusted my inner knowing.”
~Milree Latimer

“Overall, I would say it’s coping with depression as that has been a struggle most of my adult life. It affects so many areas, like whether I can talk myself into writing my next story or the next word.

I can find myself feeling rather glass half-empty and that makes it harder to reach out to others or wanting to market my writing as well. The first thing that helps me keep perspective is my faith in Jesus Christ. Spending time with my Savior, reading the Bible or talking to Him in prayer is my go-to.”
~Kathleen Rouser

“I find publishing incredibly anxiety-provoking. As a writer, I feel at once like, hey, everyone look at what I made! And then when people look at what I made, I’m like, oh my god, I can’t stand this attention!

Of course, a big part of not wanting people to pay attention is rooted in fear of rejection or, worse, shame, of having someone think, how dare she produce this and think it was worthwhile? When you have that kind of fear, it can be really inhibiting and it can be difficult to create.

I cope with this anxiety in lots of different ways and one of them is to remember that my work is not going to be for everyone and that’s okay. It is for someone, though, and I have to put myself out there to make sure that the readers who need or want my work will find it.”
~Sara Hosey

Holiday Quote

“There’s no time I’m happier, or more at peace, than when I’m writing. The writing is the escape. I’m creating the product to find peace from, among other things, dealing with trying to sell the product.

On the other hand, the effect of clawing back out of my imagination to be confronted by real world things is so shocking it’s hard to describe, and I’m often in a bad mood after the inevitable interruption.

How dare someone pull me out of the middle of a space battle back into this banal world?! I need to stop saving the world in order to clean the dishes?!”
~Ash Bishop

Get the Writing Done

“I make myself a goal of doing three things a day that relate to my author platform or my writing. I do those three things, and then my to-do list for the day is complete.

For instance, my three to-dos could be:

  1. Make social media posts about the ebook sale for my novel.
  2. Spend thirty minutes searching for a place to publish my new short story.
  3. Write a rough draft of a book review for my book blog.

After I’ve done those three things, I’m done for the day. I’ll often curate a list of to-dos at the beginning of the week, and then I’ll mix and match every day, kind of like going to a buffet, picking my three daily goals, while maintaining a sense of the big picture of what needs to get done.”
~Helen Power