I ended 2023 with the announcement that I sold my sophomore YA Horror to Wild Ink Publishing. So, it should come as no surprise to me that all of January has been filled with form rejection after form rejection. It does come as a surprise, however. My ego reminds me that my stories are fabulous. Marvelous, even! Yet, it is a tap on the shoulder from the universe, from the Higher Power as you choose to see Them, that all things must balance. The good with the bad. It isn’t personal. It just is.
As writers, it’s our job to know we’re good in spite of the rejections and keep on. Or…it’s our job to know we’re dreadful and do the work to become better. Only one rejection really knocked me off my feet. I had a good cry, I bitched to fellow writers. Now, onward and upward. My goal is to be a full time author and I can’t very well do that if I don’t write.
January has been filled with reading:
-House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
-A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas
-The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
-We Are Al So Good At Smiling by Amber McBride
-Kingmaker’s Sword by Ann Marston
-Monstress Volume One: Awakening my Majorie M. Liu
-Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade
-Where You End by Abbott Kahler
And self improvement:
-A requested one day off a week from my day job and received it.
-I am taking guitar lessons.
-I took a basket weaving class.
-I’ve joined a religious studies group into a deep dive of the Bhagavad Ghita.
-I’ve joined two new book clubs.
-Signed up for future library events that include, but aren’t limited to, building terrariums, genealogy, book swaps, and lectures.
I’m on my way to not only have my well refilled but completing my Read What You Own Challenge. Thank God for it. It’s not like I have the money to buy more books anyway! I’m spending what I have on entry fees for competitions, groceries, and gas.
So far, I’ve entered 8 contests and I have about half a dozen more that interest me. Then there’s the matter of a soft agreement to a new ghostwriting project but I’m giving myself plenty of wiggle room for it this time around. I don’t want to suffer through burn-out again. (Honestly though, there’s only so many ways I can write ‘I quiver at the sight of his throbbing manhood’.)
In unrelated news, my cat is healing from a visit to Doctor Yipes. Thankfully, it was nothing more dramatic than tapeworms and I’m sure my splendid tom cat is grateful to be spaghetti butt free, in spite of the embarrassing ordeal at the vet. Then there is the matter of the dishes. They’re completely clean. All of them! And don’t get me started on how I’ve begun to revamp my ‘reading room’. Everything has been pulled out for carpet replacement. Chaos in the front room until then. Huzzah!
Lastly, we must, as authors, remember to take time for ourselves. Rejection sucks, especially when it’s art, because it feels like a personal attack on your very soul. Sometimes watching videos on the internet while eating ice cream is as important to the craft as reading a Donald Maass workbook.
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