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Dealing With Rejection

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Clarissa

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The same journals that used to send me nastily worded rejections are now accepting my articles. I just got an acceptance from a place that really hurt my feelings with a mean rejection back in 2009. And all I had to do to change things around was learn to work on research every day and reread / edit the piece I’m working on from the beginning every time I came back to it.

I will now be able to present a book and 8 articles for tenure. My initial goal was to present a book and 10 articles. I still have time to do that before I submit the tenure portfolio. Nobody is requiring this, of course, but I want to make tenure significant to myself and not to some external agency.

I also want to do better than Jonathan’s promotion guidelines. There is no particular reason to do this other than my own enjoyment. Yes, I have a very weird understanding of enjoyment.

This most recent acceptance makes me happy because the article is controversial and quite harsh. I’m very glad that the ideas I express there will become known.

8 responses to “Dealing With Rejection”

  1. Jonathan Mayhew Avatar
    Jonathan Mayhew

    That’s really a fantastic record that could get you tenure anywhere. If you can add to that you will be full in no time.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      This is all thanks to your advice. 🙂

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  2. paranoid Avatar
    paranoid

    “And all I had to do to change things around was learn to work on research every day…”

    Are you working on research every day now?

    In the past, working has helped you feel physically better, and you have found it hard to get back to writing if you have had more than a couple days of a break.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      I returned to my research today. It’s difficult to concentrate but it does make things better. And I’ve also written a plan for a new book project today. I’m framing every area of my life in terms of a project these days because that is what usually helps me.

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  3. Lucinde Avatar
    Lucinde

    Can you write some more how you actually dealt with rejection in the few days after it actually happens? I find rejection really hard on my self-esteem and it’s really difficult for me to shake it off. It’s all I can think for weeks.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      Yes, I know exactly what you mean. It used to discourage and depress me a lot. But then I heard two things that helped me deal with rejection:

      1. N told me, “The only reason you are getting rejections is that you are working, writing, and submitting stuff. The only way to avoid rejection is to submit nothing and that would not make things better.”

      It helped to see things from this perspective. I get rejections because I work hard.

      2. Another thing somebody told me is that every article has a home. When you get a rejection, it simply means that you sent it to the wrong home. What you need to do is find the right home for it.

      For some reason, these two simple statements really helped me. Now I don’t feel shattered by rejections. They don’t leave me indifferent, of course, but they are not horrible any longer.

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  4. Titfortat Avatar
    Titfortat

    You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” – Wayne Gretzky

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      Exactly. 🙂

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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