100 Rejections a Year (Still Working)

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My Submittable task list is one way that I track how many rejections I've had in a year

Before the pandemic, our trophy -- Wing of Triumph -- used to be based from winner to winner

We kicked off 2020 with a gathering of writers who participated in the 2019 competition

Inspired by Kim Liao’s Lit Hub article “Why you Should Aim for 100 Rejections a Year,” (http://lithub.com/why-you-should-aim-for-100-rejections-a-year/), I kicked off a yearly competition called Rejection Competition. The idea is to reframe rejections as a positive step in the path to publication.

Writers track the number of times they are rejected from publication. The monthly count goes towards a yearly total. At year-end, we declare a rejection competition winner.

The first year, the project started with about 12 local writers, and every year since has gained more people from more places around the world. The competition averages about 30 writers a year, primarily fiction writers, with a few poets and nonfiction writers holding their own.

In the pre-pandemic years, we would meet at the start of a new year to congratulate the winners and launch that year's competition. The pandemic put a stop to the in-person celebrations and we're now so spread out around the world in-person celebrations would leave people out.

Rejection Competition is open to all writers, all levels, and all genres. If you are interested in learning more about the project, visit: http://reneebibby.com/rejectioncompetition

P.S. I compete in Division 3 -- I am nowhere near my 100 Rejections a Year goal. In 2022, I'm aiming for 20!