Reading, Riting and Rejection

Most writers were first readers. We allowed other writers to take us places we had never gone. They introduced us to characters that we loved, or loved to hate. Before long there were new characters, only these were forming inside our own heads.

There was only a choice of letting them die there, or helping them to grow and develop on paper, along with the plots that seemed to be part of their journey.

This is the journey of a story's life, from conception to happy ending. And although the ending in a story is not always happy, it is for the writer who has birthed their masterpiece and seen it through it growth and development.

Now it is time for that masterpiece to go out into the world. It is not an easy process, just as a parent knows, letting go of their child is not always easy. In fact, many writers before me have likened writing to parenthood.

And just like with parenthood, your babies sometimes return home again. It is our job, as parents and writers, to help our children, or manuscripts, to make the journey out of the nest once again. It is up to us to help prepare them.

Unfortunately, sometimes they keep returning. There was a movie about this I think was titled, "Failure to Launch", where the adult child refused to leave home. However, as writers we know we can't blame our manuscript for returning again and again.

A long time ago I was given an inspirational message I taped to the wall of my office. It said, "God answers prayer." The next few years, around it I taped up the rejection slips I had received until the wall was nearly filled with rejections. One day a writer friend came to visit and I allowed her the honor of entering my disaster zone – er, I mean my office. She didn't notice my mess. In fact, the only thing she noticed was my wall. She simply turned to me saying, "Maybe you are asking Him for the wrong thing."

Maybe I was. While my rejections were creating in me a determination to overcome, what I failed to remember that just sending, tweeking, and resending my manuscripts over and over again was not all that was needed. For my stories to grow into adults ready to leave the nest forever, I had to have the tools to prepare them for that journey.

I had to get off the cycle of riting and rejection. I needed to concentrate on reading and riting. I needed to eliminate the rejection. That meant reading the work of others published in the markets I had chosen as homes for my stories, just as a parent might help their child research the field they have chosen for their life work.

I also needed to read my own work as objectively as possible, and seek out others who would give me honest opinions about my stories. Preferably people who read similar work by other authors. I needed people who would not just put on a smile and tell me what they thought would make me feel good. I needed people who would give me their honest appraisal of my work, even if it hurt.

With this accomplished I was able to see what needed to be changed in my stories before they left home again. This time, hopefully for good. With the knowledge I'd gained and applied to my stories, there was a far better chance they would find a new home.

This worked for me. I am happy to say I took down the old rejection slips from my wall. They no longer inspired me. Yes, there were more, but I used them as tools not decorations. I'm happy to say that soon there were less and less of them.

I suggest beginning writers not allow rejections of their stories to be signs of failure. Yes, they can serve as items that strengthen your desire to never give up. But they must also serve as something deeper. They should inspire you to learn and grow, as they did me.

After all, I've grown since the beginning of this piece. I now can spell as well as advise. I'm ending with this, may you all know one good thing leads to another, especially with Reading, Writing and Acceptance.