“When I was younger and finally got an agent—I was turned down by everybody—finally an agent who said he would represent me I may have told my family there was a book in the works. I really don’t remember; it was a long time ago. I had read so much about how to get published and I knew that rejections are just part of the routine. And there are great stories about writers you’d been rejected so many times for great books and it really keeps you going. It motivates you. At the same time, I was a busy, busy small-time lawyer—wasn’t making any money—but I was busy. I was a member of the state legislator in Jackson, which took up a third of my time, plus my wife’s having babies. So life is really complicated. I didn’t have any time. This was a secret little part-time hobby of mine, if it didn’t work out that was okay. I had a law office. I had a career. It wasn’t like I was suicidal when I got rejection letters. [But writing] gave me a very big dream. I’d only been a lawyer for four or five years when I started writing. And once I started writing and the pages started piling up, it became this huge dream about writing full-time, and not having to be a lawyer. There’s a lot of frustration with the practice of law, and I was kind of burned out I think. The dream got bigger. And I thought with each rejection letter, maybe I’m one step closer. Keep submitting, keep submitting.”
John Grisham (The Firm, The Whistler)
Interview on The Moment with Brian Koppelman (11/1/16)
Note: Grisham has had more than 30 novels published and with an estimated over 250 million books sold he’s one of the bestselling writers in history. In addition to that he’s had 11 features film films produced based on his writings. Not bad for a small town southern lawyer who started out writing as a part-time hobby. Keep dreaming. Keep writing. And keep submitting. (Reading this blog is optional, but you must read this post: J.K. Rowling’s on the Benefits of Failure.)
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‘The Anticipation of Rejection’ —“This is a business that’s based on rejection and the anticipation of rejection.”
Rod Serling on Rejection
Rejection Before Raiders
Mike Rich and Hobby Screenwriting
Damien Chazell on ‘Pushing Yourself’
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