100 Rejections

Photo by Christina Radevich on Unsplash

100 rejections in a year is a popular creative challenge that requires writers to work hard at submitting their work to publishers. Presumably, among all those rejections, there are likely to be a few acceptances as well.

Writers need to get accustomed to rejection. Rejection happens much more often than acceptance in the literary world, and it happens to the best of us. Many works that we now consider great or classic were widely rejected. In some cases, the authors resorted to self-publishing to get the work into the public's hands.

Aiming for 100 rejections requires making at least 100 submissions -- likely more, since there probably will be some acceptances in the mix.

I have come close, scoring 91 rejections in the past 12 months. During that time, I've also had 30 acceptances.

Making enough submissions to get 100 rejections probably won't be possible for an author who has written only a few pieces. Thus, the challenge provides an incentive to write more. It may also lead to better writing, since many authors will analyze and rewrite a piece that has been rejected. Some publishers occasionally include a personal note with clues to the reason for rejection, and that can also help the writer improve the work.

This person aimed for other kinds of rejections.