In April 2000, after waiting two years for a publisher to bite on my first novel, I was forced to confront the very real possibility that it might never happen. At that point in my life, I didn't need some New-Age quasi-spiritual 'creativity' counselor to spoon pabulum into my yearning mouth. I needed some validation of my rage and despair. I needed to vent, bad.

That's why I created this site. I figured there were others out there who could benefit from some good, old-fashioned, immature bitching, moaning and commiserating. I was right. It's done us all good. But deep down, we all knew that after we'd read all the sob stories, laughed rejection in the face and stabbed a few voodoo dolls, we'd have to (gulp!) get back to the drawing board, because being a writer or artist is what we are, whether (violins please) we ever, ever get recognized. Besides, the next project might just be the one that strikes it big!

If you still need some extra inspiration, click on our two new sections, The Rewards of Rejection, where we post stories about how fellow creative artists have used negative responses to their work to spur them on to greater heights, and Celebrity Corner, where you can see how our more exalted brethren deal with rejection. (Yes, famous people get rejected, too!) Either that, or get back to work!