Two Sylvias' Weekly Muse: May 28, 2023

Issue 57

Hello Muse Readers!

We’ve written quite a bit in the Weekly Muse about the role rejection plays in the literary life of a writer. If you are actively submitting your poems and creative writing, then you are bound to receive numerous rejections. As Sylvia Plath reminds us, “I love my rejection slips. They show me I try.”

There are a few well-tested strategies for dealing with rejection, some of which we have previously written about:

• Don’t take rejections personally because they are subjective. Your work can be rejected because an editor is having a bad day, she/he/they is reading while distracted, or your subject matter (e.g., divorce) hits too close to home.

• It’s alright to take some time to be upset or angry about being rejected, but don’t stay in this space for more than a day or two. Get back to writing and submitting asap.

• Like Plath, view your rejections as a badge of honor because they show that you are submitting your work. If it makes you feel better—delete them, print them out an…