Hey Reader,

Longtime readers might remember when I used to do the 3@3. New readers, welcome to the explanation: a few years back, I used to go live once a week at 3pm and answer 3 questions that had been pre-submitted. It was all live, no editing, just raw talk. Turns out, I've got a pile of those clips sitting around, and honestly, most of the advice hasn't aged a day. Would I add some information or say it a bit different? Maybe. But these are still so solid, I decided to resurrect them and share them with you again!

The question this time:

How do you keep going after getting knocked down, having disappointing sales, or hearing no from queries?

The first thing I remind myself, and I'll remind you too, is that writing is a business, and running any business means some things just don't go the way you hoped. My own business is proof of that. Different launches land differently. Some courses take off, some don't. Some months are strong, some aren't. That's not failure, that's just what running something looks like over time.

When something doesn't go well, whether it's a rejection, a bad review, or someone just being unkind in your inbox, here's what I actually do: I keep going. I keep creating. I keep paying attention to what's working and who I'm actually helping, and I try just as hard to internalize the good feedback as I do the bad. That second part is so important. It's easy to let one critical email outweigh a dozen genuine wins.

To be clear, this isn't toxic positivity. Toxic positivity is ignoring feedback that could actually help you grow. What I'm talking about is different: when something doesn't work, ask what didn't work and what you'd do differently, take what's useful, let the rest go, and then keep moving. Fifty rejections might have one piece of useful feedback buried in them. Negative reviews might reveal an actual pattern worth addressing, or they might just mean that reader wasn't yours to begin with.

And one more thing worth remembering: every author you think has it all figured out has their own version of this happening behind the scenes. There's no career where everything is roses. There's just deciding what you're going to do the next time something doesn't go your way.

Take 5: This short video has my full answer for how you keep going when you have setbacks as an author.

If you're in a rough patch and want people around you who get it, Just Keep Writing is free and open whenever you need it.

Happy writing!

~Angela
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