A huge part of being a writer is the dreaded part of waiting and facing
rejection. Waiting is hard but rejection is like a bullet to your heart.
When you start dreaming about being a writer you never think about the rough
pad ahead of you, you only think about the fabulous life you’ll have being able
to write all the wonderful worlds you have in your mind. And why not you also
think that everyone will love it as much as you. But then you start the dream,
you sit and realize writing wasn’t as easy, but you go through it the best you
can so after several blood tears you have your wonderful creation in front of
you.
Well maybe it’s not a wonderful creation but you have hope and send it
away to find its way into the publishing world. So there’s when the wait begin.
There start the constant refreshing of your email for several days until you
realize it seems it will not come as fast as you thought.
Until one incredible day you receive the notification that says “You got
Mail!!” and your heart stops for the torturous moments it takes for the email
to open, in that second you have fear and hope. Until you read and your heart
collapses to the ground were you think you will never be able to pick it up.
But the thing is we have to accept it’s a part of the road to take our
stories out in the world, as Stanley Ellin says:
“No one put a gun to your
head and ordered you to become a writer. One writes out of his own choice and
must be prepared to take the rough spots along the road with a certain
equanimity, though allowed some grinding of the teeth.”
—Stanley Ellin
—Stanley Ellin
After the rejection starts another process, the self-doubt, the idea of
throwing everything away, the pain and the tears. But if this is what you love,
what really moves you there, slowly filtering into the bad thoughts, will
appear hope.
“Was I bitter?
Absolutely. Hurt? You bet your sweet ass I was hurt. Who doesn’t feel a part of
their heart break at rejection. You ask yourself every question you can think
of, what, why, how come, and then your sadness turns to anger. That’s my
favorite part. It drives me, feeds me, and makes one hell of a story.”
—Jennifer Salaiz
—Jennifer Salaiz
One thing I recommend and that had keep me going every time is having
friends, writer friends, that understand, let you cry but then kick your butt
and make you start again. Believe me I could never keep going without my
friends and also my hubby.
Another quote on hope I love:
“If you do not hope, you
will not find what is beyond your hopes.”
—St. Clement of Alexandra
—St. Clement of Alexandra
At last here is what I wrote and felt after a rejection, this is totally
and completely mine:
“Sometimes my brain and
heart amaze me. They just got hit and I feel like crying but my brain is
planning and my heart is hoping.”
—Anabel Gonzalez
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