As an unpublished fiction writer in her twenties, it was easy for Adelle Waldman to imagine that well-known fiction writers had been anointed from their earliest youth and had never suffered through years of self-doubt, doubt from others (parents, friends) and, yes, rejection. Now knowing that's not the case, she still believes writers should talk about this more. In this craft talk, Waldman will talk candidly about having her first novel rejected by every publisher in town, an experience that seemed devastating at the time—but which later came to seem like a piece of good fortune because it paved the way for her to write a better novel. More importantly than her own story, though, is a truth she'd like to impress on everyone: how well one endures rejection is, she believes, one of the key distinguishing characteristics between successful writers and those who give up. We should put as much care into learning how to handle rejection constructively—avoiding both the extremes of rage at the one doing the rejecting on the one hand and despair/self-loathing on the other extreme—as we put into making the finest sentences possible.
Adelle Waldman is the author of the novel, The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., which was named one of 2013’s best books by The New Yorker, The Economist, The New Republic, NPR, Slate, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and many others. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, The Village Voice, and other publications. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with her husband, the writer Evan Hughes.