Katherine Heiny: “Send Your Work Out”

Don’t take rejections personally — just keep going

Wake Up and Write is an advice column from Moms Don’t Have Time to Write. Today, we have Katherine Heiny — writer and author of the hit novel, Early Morning Riser— who shared writing advice on the podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, hosted by Zibby Owens.

“Keep going.”

“The whole thing about your brain being a muscle and your imagination getting stronger the more you work it, it’s really trite, but it’s really true. When I taught creative writing, my students never sent anything out. They’d never submitted their work. I was like, ‘Elves are not going to come in the night and publish this stuff. You’ve got to get it out there.’

I sent stories out almost as soon as I started writing them. I mean, I would wait. I would polish them. I would submit them. I would say get your work out there. Don’t take rejections personally. Just keep going.”