Guest Spot: Pinkie Rae Parker

We're back to Guest Spots this week with Pinkie Parker who's here to talk us through a feeling writers know know well: Fear of Rejection.  That fear can manifest itself in a lot of different places: sharing with others, submitting a manuscript, waiting for those first reviews, playing the dating game....  Anyway, let's hear from Pinkie, who's story "Joie de Vivre" is featured in the Dreamspinner Press anthology, Closet Capers.

Coping with the Fear of Rejection

Read on for more

As a writer, I am still fairly new to the world of publishing. After having three stories accepted for publication in succession, I really thought that I had hit a happy stride with my writing. However, after working for months on a recent submission call, I realized how rubbish my story was two weeks before the deadline. Through several revisions and rewrites, I struggled to make something out of what I had. The deadline, unfortunately, passed without me submitting my work. I felt absolutely crushed and frustrated with myself.

I moped for a few days until I talked to a friend who asked to see what I had written. She read through my drafts and told me that I should have submitted what I had, even if it was not perfect. The rational piece of my brain knew she was right, but all the little irrational, needling bits of gray-matter rattling about in my head cringed at the thought. I realized what I was really worked up about was being rejected after having my first few victories as a writer. Once I recognized what my anxieties stemmed from, I made the decision to actively dispel those negative thoughts, but it has not been easy.

Here are a few of the methods that I have been employing to cope--

1.) Talking to other writers. There is something comforting in knowing that you are not alone in your fears. Hearing how others dealt with their own fears of rejection really helped me along, and it is also what inspired me to write on this topic.

2.) Temporarily accepting writer’s block. Trying to combat writer’s block can almost be worse than the lack of creative flow itself. I have found that having alternate activities already arranged while writing, in case negative thoughts creeping in while I am stuck, has really helped. Currently, I turn to playing Minecraft on my computer or drawing/doodling as ways to clear my head and let the block take its course.

3.) Finding ways to use the ideas you have. As I talked to other new writers, one of the common worries that I hear is that they feel as though they have wasted their time when something they write is rejected. I can definitely understand that feeling, and the only way to get over this is to find use for what you have. Submitting it to other publishers, taking your favourite parts of your story to make a new one, or creating an “idea box” that you can store past stories in to return to later are possible alternatives to just giving up on a story. For the draft that I have that I did not submit, I put it away for a while, and now I am going to expand it into a novella in hopes of publishing it that way.

Ultimately, my advice is do not give up and do not let the fear of rejection stop you from doing what you love. Sometimes bringing the spark back to a project and regaining one’s passion can be found when one takes a step back and lets those ideas percolate for a while, instead of beating oneself up about it. I may not ever be able to fully conquer my fears, but I am much happier with my writing process as a whole.

Story Blurb:

Aspiring restaurateur Jules hopes to honor his aunt’s memory by placing one of her recipes on his menu. However, while visiting the farmhouse he inherited from her, he discovers her treasured recipe box has disappeared and encounters a host of needed repairs that make staying in the house impossible. When a childhood antagonist, Henri, reappears, can Jules take him up on his offer of help… and maybe more?

Buy Links:
Paperback- http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3770&cPath=55_767
E-book- http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3769&cPath=55_767

Author Bio:
Pinkie Rae Parker is happy to use the moniker passed down from her great-grandmother. Born and raised in the southern United States, Pinkie Rae is currently a cultural historian and graphic designer. She enjoys researching fashion and design in Europe during the eighteenth century and studying French. However, writing fiction is a passion that she has had since she was a teenager, and she now hopes to pursue writing for publication (outside of academia) as a full-time career.

Author Links:
https://www.facebook.com/PinkieRaeParker
http://pinkieparker.tumblr.com/
http://pinkieraeparker.wordpress.com/