Writers coping with rejection

Do you want to become a writer but you fear the pain of rejection? Well, according to many famous writers their experiences of rejection were ultimately their biggest learning curves; their success ultimately depending on the motivation they gained from rejection letters. This article on aerogrammestudio.com gives aspiring writers an insight into how notable novelists and poets coped with rejection. Here is a selection of my favourite quotations:

 'I love my rejection slips. They show me I try' - SYLVIA PLATH

'Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.' - KURT VONNEGUT

'I got a rejection letter from an editor at HarperCollins, who included a report from his professional reader. This report shredded my first-born novel, laughed at my phrasing, twirled my lacy pretensions around and gobbed into the seething mosh pit of my stolen clichés. As I read the report, the world became very quiet and stopped rotating. What poisoned me was the fact that the report’s criticisms were all absolutely true. The sound of my landlady digging in the garden got the world moving again. I slipped the letter into the trash…knowing I’d remember every word.' - DAVID MITCHELL