On Writing and Failure

According to Stephen Marche, if you want to be a writer then you'd better be ready to hurl yourself at the door, again and again. In his pithy and erudite essay Marche outlines how perseverance, in the teeth of rejection, forms the essence of a writer's life. It's what it takes, so no whining. Even successful writers grapple with failure. Along with his own history of rejection, Marche illustrates his thesis with vignettes of literary history, from Samuel Johnson, 'broke as f**ck', to Jane Austen signing lousy deals, to Herman Melville earning a pittance and ending his days as a customs inspector. Yet for new and seasoned writers his words are salutary, and, in a paradoxical way, consoling. All writers are up against it. Why should you be different?