Right foot, left foot…

There can be no doubt: if you are a writer who wishes to succeed there is a level of masochism required for the job. After sending 40 query letters, getting two full requests and then having those requests rejected, I was left flat. It took me six months to write and revise, six more months to get beta reader feedback, revise again and then start the grueling task of searching for a literary agent. Eighteen months later, I have nothing to show for it.

I’ve entered several contests, submitted works or pieces of work to many publications and…

worldwildlife.org

NOTHING. Clearly, I suck as a writer. Maybe, I should give up. I’ve wasted years chasing a dream that’s not meant to come true for me. I must be delusional to expect this goodness called an author career to become real.

It felt like I was at ground zero all over again, only a year and a half after I’d started this project.(Note: In 2010, I’d completed another manuscript, pitched it for less than a year and trunked it.) It feels like getting socked in the chin over and over again. My ego is so bloodied and bruised it’s unrecognizable.

me after rejection

And yet…

I STILL want it!

Please, HURT ME MORE! Keep kicking me while I’m down. I haven’t had enough. Because I haven’t achieved my goal.

Do you know, I tried four different times to get a job in marketing before they finally gave up and let me in? I knew I was capable of the job. I knew it. I just had to be patient to prove it to my prospective employers. And years later, that tenacious tenacity finally paid off.

I don’t have a success story yet for my writing career. I’m still fighting for my happy ending.

Isn’t that something, though. I’m STILL fighting. And if you’re in the same ring as me, and rejection has you down, it’s okay! Take a time-out, spit the blood from your mouth, Vaseline up your cuts, and then CHIN UP! Ding, ding ding! Round 42 is about to begin.

After revising once more, I’m on the hunt for agents and querying again. Hang in there! We’ll achieve our goal! I know we can!