Master Your Fear of Rejection

Greetings my fellow writers, freelancers, and digital nomads,

And a warm welcome to all the new readers who joined since last week’s edition.

Also, I want to give a big thanks to Greg Younger for scooping up last week’s Writer’s Juice NFT! Guys and gals, please check out Greg’s Write3 newsletter where he covers all things Writing and Web3.

You know, I was hesitant to start my own newsletter. I’ll admit it, I was scared.

🫢 What if it bombs?

😨 What if people don’t like it?

😱 What if nobody subscribes?

It took a while for me to get going and that was mostly down to my Fear of Rejection.

I’m sure you too have trembled at the thought of doing something new at some point or other, so let’s dig a little deeper into this mental block that holds us back all too often.

Today we’ll break down:

• what fear of rejection is,

• where most people get it wrong, and

• how to reframe your fear and move forward with your goals.

So will you join me for this one? Or are you too scared…

✍️ Fear of Rejection ✍️

Overcoming your fear is a crucial step in any progressive endeavour, but it can be even more challenging for freelance writers. Why? Because most of the time it’s us against the world.

We don’t have the comfort of passing a task on to the colleague sitting next to us. If the fear holds us back, there’s nobody else to pick us up and push us forward.

Fear of rejection in particular holds us writers back from trying new things, posting new material and submitting new works. As lame as it sounds, deep down within we all strive for acceptance and validation but without a precedent of gaining acceptance, we’re left with something absolutely meaningless: our imagination.

But imagination is not meaningless, this is one of the most powerful tools we have as human beings. Aeroplanes, vaccines, skyscrapers and even books were born in the imaginations of those who first created them.

As humans, we have the power to harness our imagination to create powerful things, but without a track record of previous successes, we simply default back to loss aversion; a deeply embedded trait we inherited from our hunter gatherer ancestors. Thanks evolution…

And as with most fears in life, the worry stems from the unknown. Our imagination projects scary images of what could go wrong, and brings us back to our safe place. Thanks brain…

But here’s where people get it wrong:

👉 Rejection is not a mark of failure.

👉 There is no all-or-nothing when you become a creator.

👉 Perfectionism is not required to succeed.

Reframing our perception of what rejection means allows us to use it constructively. To construct means to build. So we can actually use these rejections to build better outcomes for ourselves.

While we’re confronting our fears, why not take a look at someone who’s intimately in touch with scary thoughts.

Stephen King has built an impressive career around fear. But it wasn’t an easy ride.

Early in his career, still without a successful novel to his name, King threw an unfinished manuscript into the bin. His wife discovered the manuscript and urged him to continue. What came of it was Carrie, the first of many novels that propelled King to several decades of success and fortune.

Had it not been for his wife’s lucky find, we may have never witnessed this legendary writing career.

But even before he reached this landmark moment, rejection was something that King had already been learning to deal with.

The King of Horror isn’t the only example of a famous author who overcame their many rejections. In fact there are plenty of them. Here are a few more household names:

• J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” was rejected 12 times before leading the series onto incredible success.

• John Grisham’s “A Time to Kill” was turned down 30-something times (his words), before a spurring hot streak of bestsellers.

• Jack Canfield’s New York Times #1 bestseller “Chicken Soup of the Soul” was turned down a whopping 144 times before seeing the inside of a printing press. Canfield heard “No”, but just replied “Next!”

These blockbuster authors may have all struck gold but they started off just like you and me. Think about that.

And now ask yourself: What is that you’re really scared of? Something as insignificant as a rejection?

🎯 Take Action 🎯

1. Understand that rejection is part and parcel of your hero’s journey. Just like a toddler taking their first steps, you too will have plenty of falls before you can run.

2. There’s no need to go it alone. Build a network of friendly authors, copywriters, SEO specialists and other industry pros. Pay it forward and help out where you can. You can’t see it or grasp it yet, but quite often you’re just one link away from a pivotal node in your network.

   Hint: The Writer’s Juice Discord community is a great place to start.

3. Thicken your skin and embrace your rejections. This is an obligatory, non-negotiable part of your growth. By normalising rejection, you’re rewiring your brain to treat setbacks as learning experiences. “Learn from your mistakes” is much more than a catchphrase.

If fear of rejection is something you need to tackle, here are some additional resources that might just help:

• On Writing, Stephen King

• 100 Days of Rejection Therapy, Jia Jiang

• Escape Your Comfort Zone, Writer’s Juice

🐝 What’s Buzzing? 🐝

Here are some recent finds for all you online writers and digital nomads:

• Web3 writing platform Mirror introduces Writing NFTs 2.0. The latest upgrade brings new features such as in-wallet reading, custom covers and open editions.

• Privacy-focused email provider Tutanota receives a €1.5 million grant to work on a post-quantum cloud storage and file sharing solution.

• OpenAI launches Superalignment, a project aiming to steer and control super intelligent AI. The creator of ChatGPT will set aside 20% of its current compute to tackle this challenge.

• Meta (or Facebook, or is it Instagram; let’s just call it Zuckerberg) launches Threads, a text based platform and potential competitor to Twitter.

💗 Show Some Love 💗

Are you getting value from this newsletter? I hope so!

My goal is to help unlock your potential as a freelance writer. I’ve poured countless hours into researching and crafting these juicy tips for you.

If you’d like to show your support, you can collect my sketches over on OpenSea. I’ll be posting exclusive 1-of-1 pieces to complement the newsletter topics. As they’re 1-of-1s, it’s first come, first served!

Here’s today’s sketch: FEAR. I drew this one in Krita using my trusty wireless mouse.

You can grab this digital collectible here.

🏆 Win-Win-Win 🏆

I created this newsletter to guide writers along their freelance journey. But it doesn’t stop there.

Whether you’re an aspiring writer, project founder or business owner, here are 3 more ways I can help out.

Everybody wins!

1. Join the free Writer’s Juice Discord community where you’ll find a ton of useful resources, writing-themed discussion channels and a friendly network of likeminded writers.

2. Need support with your project’s online content? Why not pass by my Contra portfolio site and let’s work together.

3. Want to share your product or service with an audience of passionate writers, digital nomads and fast-rising freelancers? Send an email and let’s discuss sponsorship details.

Thanks for reading.

Talk to you next time,

Jason

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