On Reviews

When I started seriously writing about video games six months ago, I began with something that I was very familiar with and thought I could handle: reviews. The first few were pretty bad. It’s not that the writing itself was bad, it’s just that they were boring, rote, and formulaic. But I pressed on, because that’s what you do when you’re new at something.

For the next few months I kept writing reviews, and eventually I got some unpaid freelance gigs to get more practice and gain a little exposure. The more I wrote, the more confident I felt. I got more gigs and commendations on my work from editors. My writing started to flow a bit better and I broke out of some bad habits. I thought I had the video game review thing all figured out.

And then BioShock Infinite broke my brain.

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Rejection

“We regret to inform you…”

“…at this time we cannot…”

“Although we appreciate your time…”

Those words, and ones like them, are feared by anyone who has ever applied for a job, college, or loan. As a freelance writer, they’re the words I dread on a daily basis.

Fear of rejection is the main reason why so many people stare out the front door of their lives at some far-off dream, but never take the first step out the door because someone, somewhere might tell them “no.”

There’s certainly something to be said about getting over the fear of rejection, but I also think we need to learn how to reject better.

I’ve been freelancing for about six months, and until today, I’ve never received a “no.” I’ve had plenty of people not respond to my inquiries at all, and I’ve had several editors so desperate for any work that they’d take whatever I gave them with no edits and no feedback.

Neither of those responses were very helpful, but I was fine with them because they weren’t rejections. I still feared those flowery, formal boilerplate words that might as well say “you suck” or “you’ll never get a real gig.” I feared someone telling me I wasn’t good enough.

That’s why I was so in awe this morning when I got the best rejection letter of my life. It went something like this:

Hi Josh,

I’ve read the samples you provided. You’re off to a good start, but your writing features some common mistakes.

Here are some things I think about when I’m writing to help me:

1.

2.

3.

If you take these tips to heart, you’ll notice a big improvement in your writing.

Work on these small changes and send me the next thing you write with them in mind.

Thanks,

John

I can’t thank “John” enough for this. I feared rejection so much, but I never considered that someone would actually tell me why I wasn’t good enough and how I could improve.

I was so honored that someone had taken the time to read multiple articles from me and write specific recommendations based on that. It was so amazing to me that by the time I reached the bottom of the email to see that my work hadn’t been accepted, I wasn’t upset. In fact, I was excited and reinvigorated.

As fate would have it, my friend Josh Helfferich posted this on Facebook today:

There’s no better way to learn a skill than by listening to a skilled person tell you why you suck.

If you’re in a position to reject someone, do it like John. Start with why.