Keep Opening That Vein…

Image from Tumblr.com

If you’re a writer reading this post, you understand this picture. This is what I do everyday for most of the day (when I’m not on Facebook or Twitter, because writers have to build a virtual platform these days).

This is what I’ve done for more than fifty-years. Yes, I AM that old.

But this blog is not just about writing. This is about something every writer (even Stephen King, just read his On Writing) understands. This blog is about rejection.

Now, I’ve known rejection for as long as I’ve been writing:

I was not “the pretty daughter.”

I was fat and never picked (until the end) for any team sports.

I never went to any of my proms…even though I asked a boy, who, of course, said no.

I never had a boyfriend until I was out of high school.

I was turned down for more jobs than I had.

But the most important rejection: I got my first writing rejection when I was twelve, after I’d sent a short story into Family Circle Magazine (way back then they published short stories, not just weight loss topics and cake recipes).

But I didn’t have all rejections in those years, so I kept at it with short stories, poems, essays, feature articles, and novels (one of which is self-published…horrors!)

And now at the ripe old age of almost-68 I’ve received yet another rejection…this time from an agent. It seems my story “didn’t move” her. <<Shrug>> I’ll accept that. I’ve learned to accept rejection by now and move on.

How am I moving on?

By doing exactly what I’m doing now…writing.

I’m not giving up on the book that was rejected. In fact, I’d taken that agent appointment at a recent conference on a whim…to give traditional publishing another try. <<Shrug>> So I’ll reread that book, make some revisions, and send it off to an editor/formatter and cover artist. It’s an important subject that needs to be out there even if only 2 or 3 people read it.

And I’ve signed up for camp this summer: Camp NaNoWriMo: