So I submitted “That Idiot Show” and have already received my first rejection. Just dusted myself off and submitted it again.
All the books on writing tell you this is exactly what you should do. Get rejected, keep submitting, and keep writing stories for submission. It’s great advice, often from writers who’ve received enough rejections themselves to wallpaper every room in their homes, and likely beyond. You’re supposed to get over it.
Of course, when it came to the first piece I submitted for publication, “By the Will of the Gods,” this is not what I did at all. I got rejected four times and basically let it crush me.
I tried working on new stories. I tried revising “By the Will of the Gods” to get it into what I thought might be a publishable state for other markets. But yes, I let those rejections crush me. I let my creative initiative flounder, and if it weren’t for “By the Will of the Gods” getting accepted by Analog, I wonder if I might have actually finished another work of fiction.
It’s really easy to let rejection crush you. It’s absolutely necessary to not let rejection crush you if you want to sell your writing. I think it’s all right to let rejection get you down, but try and be kind to yourself and let yourself know it’s not the end of the world if any one piece doesn’t get sold. Professional writers often have multiple novels sitting in a trunk somewhere they know will likely never see the light of day. Mope, grieve even, and then try and move on.