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Friday, April 8, 2016

Rejected, Accepted, and Still Going

Excel has probably about a million different features and formulas, but honestly I don’t use any of them. My husband set up our budget spreadsheet and is an Excel master, but I’m more of a basic user.

I use Excel to track my submissions. What I submitted, when it was sent off, where I sent it to, if it was an article or short story, and if it was accepted or rejected.

The “Rejected” column has me feeling a little beaten down. As writers, we all know that rejections far outweigh the “yes”s, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to take. For me, it’s not so much the individual rejections, it’s the image of them all combined in a tidy little spreadsheet.

Those few “yes”s, though? They’re the sip of water when I’m trudging through the desert, fighting to get over the next sand dune to that magical land of full-on publication. Recently I’ve had two articles published and not much else, although not for lack of trying and pitching and querying the shit out of myself.

Recently, though, I got a larger drink of water when I found out that my short story I’m Coming, Mary will be published in this year’s SandScript. That acceptance came at just the right time, as I had been struggling with my competence as a writer. I mean come on, you can only have so many people say, “Sorry, not for us,” before you start to question the validity of your chosen career path.

Writing isn’t easy, and it isn’t necessarily the softest on the ego, but I still couldn’t picture myself doing anything else. Which is why I drink through the rejections. You know, sometimes.


How do you deal with rejections?

7 comments:

  1. Ah rejections - a necessity, of course. I tend to have the next market for a piece lined up, so if it gets rejected my thoughts are "Oh good, now I can send it to X."

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    1. You have a much better attitude than I do. My reaction is more along the lines off, "I mean, I guess I can send it to that other place..."

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  2. I won't lie I mope, cry (sometimes) and get depressed. Then I get over it and just carry on again. Thank you for the follow.

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    1. I'm glad that other people get discouraged as well! As weird as that is I guess, lol.

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  3. Dunno what the Oxford komma is, dear... yet, lemme wanna gonna add summore thots (onomatopeia words rrrock, girl, though I think I spelled-out the only ones. whoops)...

    If 'freedom lies in being bold' (Robert Frost), doesn't pushing-the-envelope result in the Elysian Fields? If I'm the sower, we plant the Seed; if I'm an artist, we RITE the symphonies heard Upstairs ☆IF☆ you accept His lead withe orchestra...

    Wanna find-out the fax, Jak, in a wurld fulla the 'power of cowards'? Wanna wiseabove to help a 'Plethora Of Wurdz' [POW!] which are look'n for a new home in thy novelty?? Yay!

    Q: But [gulp] can anyone tell me the difference between K2/IQ? A: Nthn. In Heaven, we gitt'm both for eternity HA! Need a few more thots, ideers, wild wurdz (whoa, Nelly! easy, girl!) or ironclad iconoclasms?

    VERBUM SAT SAPIENTI (Latin: words to [the] wise): As an ex-writer of the sassy, savvy, schizophenia we all go thro in this lifelong demise, I just wanna help U.S. git past the ping-pong-homo'BOMBa-politixxx, the whorizontal more!ass! we're in...

    "This finite existence is only a test, son," God Almighty told me in my coma. "Far beyond thy earthly tempest is where you'll find tangible, corpulent eloquence". Lemme tella youse without d'New Joisey accent...

    I actually saw Seventh-Heaven when we died: you couldn't GET!! any moe curly, party-hardy-endorphins, low-hanging-fruit of the Celestial Paradise, extravagantly-surplus-lush Upstairs (aww! baby kitties, too!!) when my o-so-beautifull, brilliant, bombastic girly passed-away due to those wry, sardonic satires...

    "Those who are wise will shine as brightly as the expanse of the Heavens, and those who have instructed many in uprightousness as bright as stars for all eternity" -Daniel 12:3, NJB

    Here's also what the prolific, exquisite GODy sed: 'the more you shall honor Me, the more I shall bless you' -the Infant Jesus of Prague.

    Go gitt'm, girly. You're incredible. You're indelible. Cya Upstairs. I won't be joining'm in the nasty Abyss where Isis prowls
    thesuperseedoftime.blogspot.com
    infowars.com
    -YOUTHwitheTRUTH
    -------------------------------
    PS Need summore unique, uncivilized, useless names?? Lemme gonna gitcha started, brudda:

    Oak Woods, Franky Sparks, Athena Noble, Autumn Rose, Faith Bishop, Dolly Martin, Willow Rhodes, Cocoa Major, Roman Stone, Bullwark Burnhart, Magnus Wilde, Kardiak Arrest, Will Wright, Goldy Silvers, Penelope Summers, Sophie Sharp, Violet Snow, Lizzy Roach, BoxxaRoxx, Aunty Dotey, Romero Stark, Zacharia Neptoon, Mercurio Morrissey, Fritz & Felix Franz, Victor Payne, Isabella Silverstein, Mercedes Kennedy, Redd Rust, Phoenix Martini, Ivy Squire, Sauer Wolfe, Yankee Cooky, blessed b9...

    God blessa youse
    (trustNjesus)
    -Fr. Sarducci, ol SNL

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    1. Here's a lil witty-ditty I think you might find pretty...

      Haven't HERD 'bout the WARNING? Figures. The mainstream media won't touch it. Kontrol freeks.

      The Warning from Almighty God WILL happen - dunno when - yet, it WILL effect the whole, wide, world precisely because Almighty God DOES NOT wanna lose any of us: we all sIn, capital I. God loves all of U.S. Why did sHe make us if He didn't love us? If you DON'T wanna be a part of His wild-Kingdome, child, He aint gonna force you. Remember? Up or down? Only 2 realms after our demise, dear, and 1 of em aint too cool?

      The Warning will be about 20ish minutes, showing a supremely ugly picture of Hell; Purgatory (state of waiting for those who died in a state of grace depending on how grave our sins); Seventh-Heaven where, for all those who repent in the ••SIX WEEKS!•• will git a chance to reside in His eternally fruitfull, wild Kingdome where Im going.

      Yes, dear, the Warning shall effect this sinfull mortal, too, for I'm not unlike you; yes, I'm a sinner: born when John Travolta and Abba had their debut. See if you can't connect the dots <-to-> Seventh-Heaven.

      Love you, girl.
      Pray for me.
      I'll pray for you.
      Meet me Upstairs.
      trustNjesus...

      PS ---> ISLAM IS EVIL <---
      the only religion which explicitly DENIES Jesus' Divinity and, thus, a faith which breeds hatred, division, and antichrist. Exactly why the left loves Islam: they're lost... just like Islam.

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    2. Just like Orlando = just like Islam. Decide

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