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Throwing Away Wet Money
by Patricia Spork

Dealing with rejection is one facet of the writer’s life that writers can do without, but can’t—not if a writer wants to succeed in the writing world. A new writer that has never submitted a manuscript may find the prospect of rejection overwhelming—so much so that nothing is written. The new writer may have all the essentials: desk, computer, filing cabinet, market data/guidelines, and time to write, but the thought of rejection slows them down—possibly to the point of getting nothing accomplished.

Writing is a chore. Writing is work. Writing is rejection. No one likes to be rejected. That’s the truth; No one likes to be rejected. Look around. Do you have books and magazines piled up in every corner of your house? Are your bookshelves about to topple from book overload? Take note—all of these publications are written by some writer/writers. Do you think the writers were never rejected before publication? To become published you must get your ego and manuscript wetted by rejection.

My youngest grandson, age 6, recently was handed a dollar bill from a friend of mine. Being a hoarder of money, he instantly hid his gift out of our sight. A couple of days later, I asked him if he had pocketed his money; we were going shopping and I knew he wanted to spend his dollar on candy.

"I lost it," he somberly told me.

"Lost it? How did you lose it?" I asked, knowing losing money wasn't unusual for him.

"Well, I didn't really lose it. It got wet."

I reassured him, "Wet? Well that's ok, you can still spend it."

He replied angrily, "No I can't!"

"Yes, you can," I retorted, amused at his ranting.

"I threw it away," he continued.

"Threw it away? Why?"

"Because I didn't think it was any good after it got wet."

After hearing this news, I went into a long explanation of how wet money can be dried and used, and how wet money is still good money. Of course, after all the explaining, I was still suckered out of a dollar bill and he still bought his own candy. I know you’re wondering where I’m going with this, so I’ll explain.

I looked at that incident as how a writer could relate it to receiving rejections each time a writer receives a rejection on a manuscript, the writer may think the manuscript is no good and trash it. The writer may believe the manuscript is not suitable for submitting again and scared the manuscript might once again be rejected. But like wet money, a rejected manuscript is still usable—and worth submitting elsewhere because it can make you money.

Wetting your ego in the "rejection pool" is the only way to become a successful writer. A rejected manuscript today could be a sold manuscript tomorrow and money in your pocket soon after. Prepare yourself for rejection and then go "wet" that manuscript!

Copyright © Patricia Spork

Patricia Spork is the owner of

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