What would you say if we told you there’s no such thing as “failing” if you’re writing?

Apparently, we woke up feeling feisty and slightly polemical. So let’s get into it, complete with our own tales of rejection, woe, and burning nasty correspondence while dancing around a bonfire.

We’ve been teaching writing for a long time now, both here at Carterhaugh and when we were university instructors. We also exist on the internet, where writers have been known to dwell. 

By dwell, we do mean “post pictures of their laptops and notebooks strategically positioned next to an artful chai in an effort to avoid actually writing.”

(To be clear, hi, it’s us. See: the first 15 minutes of literally any time we were writing/ not writing our dissertations.)

And here’s what we’ve noticed:

Writers are often, in the immortal words of Percy Bysshe Shelley, sensitive plants. This can be a super power – the ability to observe, feel, and take in the world around you is real good fodder for making art.

But it also can be their downfall.

A single rejection can cause a tailspin or unleash a tsunami of “NO ONE UNDERSTANDS MEEEEEE! I WILL NEVER BE APPRECIATED IN MY TIME.”

(Again, hi. Brittany once ran away crying IN THE STREET over a revise-and-resubmit. Sara left an entire beautiful plate of sushi untouched over one of her first form rejections.)

(Maybe the moral of this story is actually that we shouldn’t check our email while we’re out with friends? Something to contemplate 🤣)

Here’s the honest-to-god truth: writing is subjective as hell.

There is no poem, no novel, no essay, no NOTHING that everyone is going to think is the sh%t. 

You cannot please everyone with your writing. It will never, ever, ever happen.

So you might as well please yourself.

And here’s the secret:

The most successful, prolific writers we know? They write, and they write what delights them.

They adjust what “success” means to them, removing it from things that they can’t control (like publication and awards) to things they can.

Did you write today?

Did you enjoy writing? Is there something about what you made that you love or find satisfying? Did you learn something from the day’s efforts? 

Then ta da: SUCCESS.

We’re not saying this to be Pollyannas or because getting published isn’t nice. We’re ambitious AF, and we’ve racked up almost 200 publications at this point.

No, we’re saying this because 1) it’s true and 2) it’s WAY more motivating. You will write more if, in your brain, taking time to write what you love = success. (And you’ll probably publish more too because you’re making more art, art that’s true to you and your perspective.)

We still don’t love rejections, but we’ve found ways to roll with it.

One time, when we got a REALLY nasty rejection letter that well and truly got under our skin, we built a bonfire in Sara’s backyard and ritually burned it while dancing around to Gothic metal.

Usually, it doesn’t take a whole bonfire anymore. We can just laughingly say, “huh, it’s really sad that they have such terrible taste,” resubmit, and keep writing new stuff.

This has served us well. Last week, one of our favorite poems that we’ve ever co-written was accepted.

It had been rejected 10 times!

But you know what? It completely delights us. We freaking love that poem. Every time we look at it, it makes us smile. And, at the end of the day, isn’t that what matters most about the art you make?

Enrollment in the Carterhaugh Writers Society is open again, and we’re so excited to write with everyone throughout the month of June!

If you want to get more words on the page, hear us wax poetical about redefining success, and join a fabulous and supportive community, you can sign up here.