The Journal of Universal Rejection (JofUR)

Lets face it, people, rejection is a part of everyone's life! In matters of living and loving as well as publishing. So, we might as well get used to it, understand it and accept it ... Sort of like assholes.

BUT, we can do so with humor and thereby put rejection into proper perspective.

Therefore, I proudly introduce you to The Journal of Universal Rejection in this fine piece by Danielle White in the Sydney Morning Herald:

The upside of being turned down

It's undeniably universal. Whether it's personal relationships or publishing, we all loathe, if not fear, the "R" word — Rejection. The heartache of a manuscript returned unread; the shattered dream of being a best-selling author; the crushed self-esteem; the embarrassment, not to mention the growing pile of unpaid bills that jeer at you from the corner of your desk. There's no doubt about it, rejection bloody well hurts.

The late Lewis Grizzard, American writer and humorist, said that the longest walk in the world is not across the room to ask a woman to dance but rather the walk back across the room after the woman says no. In the publishing world, the longest walk is not the hard-slog research, the painstakingly disciplined, solitary and unpaid writing, or the long wait to hear back from the publisher but how you feel when the publisher says no.

It's not just that your work wasn't accepted but that you can't write, that you were a fool ever to think you could and you never have been and never will be good enough to get published, let alone be well regarded. Ouch!

This global thinking is often accompanied by a belief that rejection is an indictment of your being, that the publisher responsible for rejecting you and those whose works they accepted are infinitely superior to you.

A blog article, "Rejection Sucks" by Dr Harriet Lerner, for Psychology Today, suggests "the only sure way to avoid rejection is to sit mute in a corner and take no risks". Not much fun. But, she goes on to say, "if we choose to live courageously, we will experience rejection — and survive to show up for more".

Well, live courageously you can!

What is surely one of the most effective remedies for rejection since paracetamol comes the Journal of Universal Rejection (JofUR). In our fast-paced, highly pressured, economically squeezed world where unsolicited manuscripts are as unacceptable as instant coffee served in a polystyrene cup and where universities demand academics publish outrageous numbers of journal articles in elite peer-reviewed journals or perish, the JofUR brings some sanity to the madness: "Reprobatio Certa. Hora Incerta," (Rejection Certain. Honour Uncertain) claims the hero of the day.


Read and learn more

Related article: 50 Iconic Writers Who Were Repeatedly Rejected

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