Being a Writer Is a Lot of Work

I was getting up for a glass of Pepsi when I got an email. Any writer, author, or journalist knows this email moment. The notice pops up in my inbox and my heart takes a wild, insane, rollercoaster ride. First, my heart goes up, way, way up, as my expectations climb. Then, they plunge because I remember just how very much the deck is stacked against me. My heart declines. I open my email and my eyes scan, looking for the words, “pleased” or “unfortunately' or “we regret”.

It gets much laidback though. I have gotten quite a few rejections. In fact only half of what I write gets published. I’m proud of the fact I have learned how to separate someone rejecting my work from someone rejecting me as a person. There are many, many reasons why an article might not be suitable for a newspaper, magazine or blog and not one of these has anything to do with me personally.

So, I if get a rejection email and it is hopeful and kind, that almost makes it worse. Maybe, if I was just been a little better at this or if I had changed one thing in my 800 word article, maybe it would have been sufficient.

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But who knows? I would like to say who the hell cares, but I care. It’s about the constant fight to advance in my career. If this newspaper had accepted my work, that would have been it. But, seeing as they didn’t, I’m back right where I was without the hope or even the potential that being accepted will cause me to feel like I could be working towards being a writer.

Well, this is the part of being an aspiring writer that sucks much more than the motion pictures disclose. This part really hurts. But rejection is as much an element of being a writer as writing the words onto the page. It’s a large piece of being a writer as the late night editing and the early morning social Facebook marketing. This as much a part of becoming a writer as is every submission or every query letter.

These are the writer’s baptism by fire, and the hot coals we have to walk cross in order to make this our careers. I have to constantly sell ourselves and our writing. If it were easy, then everyone would become a writer. Every kid that took a creative writing classes would be a writer. Every kid who worked on his schools newspaper would now be writing for The Washington Post. But it’s not easy. There isn’t a clear path to my goal. Rejections just flat out suck.

It might slow me down and make you question whether this is what I want to do but they won’t kill me. It’s great to be a writer the days when the words just seem to flow. It’s awesome to be recognized, whether it is on the street in a store or just recently when I went for my physical therapy. It’s a rush when people ask me questions about my mysterious job. It isn’t these easy days that separate the weak from the strong, the successful from wannabes. It’s not about the easy days. It’s about the hard days where my work is rejected. .

So suck it up buttercup, I pick myself up and try again. I question, I edit and I resubmit. No one told me the life of a writer was going to be easy. But, if I’m still standing at the end of all this, it might just be worth it.

I can’t allow my emotions get the best of me when I receive those inevitable rejections. It’s just not for me. Those who are rejecting me are making decisions based on my commercial marketability, and professionalism reliably. My personality and personal life play a very very small part in being published.

I don’t waste any energy being angry or holding a pity party for myself. I have been there a number of times. I still go through rejection, but it’s healthier for my well-being and self-esteem to concentrate my energy on taking the feedback positively and utilizing the information I have been given to grow and enhance my writing style. To focus on being an excellent writer.

I work on my skills every day and read the periodicals I want to work for to learn their focus and slant on the issues.

In all honesty, getting accepted to be published is really just an adrenaline high, an ego boost. I set my sights high and have my goals. I have to show my passion for writing and be courageous enough to bare my soul. I have to have confidence in my talent and but also be willing to learn if I want a successful writer.

I know the skyrocketing heartrate is normal when opening an email. It’s a very challenging journey, but I can tell you from experience it is well worth it. But hey, I’m 71 and have nothing to lose, so I continue learning the writing craft. And the best thing is, I will have something concrete to leave my children and grandchildren, yay!

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