"You suck"
"What the hell are you on about?"
"I can't believe you wrote that"
Any combination of the above
All sorts of rejection, refutation and criticism await you in this industry. Sounds like fun eh? The challenge of opinion writers is to rise above these entities. Be relentless. Move on to other publishers. Be prepared to handle criticism from your editors and from your readership. It is only really a challenge to those who aren't prepared for their ideas to be so mercilessly cut down from editing and when responded to in the on-line domain. Whilst you are still writing your own opinion, your stream of consciousness must also learn to construct thought with respect to a basic understanding of what can and cannot be published. This knowledge may even prohibit you from publishing one whole editorial. Or even a whole set of posts. Get used to it if you want to publish for a major paper. You are representing them (to use the old high school reprimand) and you will be censored heavily if your sentiment does not meet their requirements. Miscommunication is also a challenge that you yourself can create, and is one that you definitely don't need. Clarity of argument, tone and structure. These are things that should be kept in mind if you are to produce a message that resonates in your readers. This is the ultimate goal of your piece; to produce positive and negative reactions in your reader. Negative doesn't indicate a 'stop sign' but an opportunity to craft a yet to be finalised perspective.
Alternatively, the response system as supported in most on-line opinion pages and blogs can be used to our advantage (not unscrupulously, of course). Quite often, you'll find people who will respond by providing further information, or a complimentary perspective or maybe even a job (when I say job I mean someone might offer to have your posts appear on their page, or even offer a move to a small print circulation. Remember, any response can be utilised for good means (unless its spam).
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