Thursday Talk
Do rejections sharpen or dull?
It’s June and I’ve only submitted to three places. I received my third rejection today. It used to really throw me for a loop. I’d feel like a failure. Sometimes, I would try to rework the piece but most of the time I’d simply not go back to it. It is only recently that I’d even thought of the idea of finding another place to submit it to. Today though, I decided that maybe it is sign that perhaps I should not be focused on submitting but working on my writing project and reading. Period.
Lately I’ve been trying to ignore the lure of a call unless I already have something that would fit. Complete or not. But today I wasn’t motivated at all. I was surprised by the rejection. I don’t just send stuff out anymore. I tend to spend a lot of time with pieces and research where I send them to. Maybe I put too much into the former. I’ve been known to take a chisel and tweezers to pieces but that is who I am, so I am okay with just stepping back and writing for the Big Project.
Today, I had leftover Pad Thai for breakfast. Today, I read another manuscript. Today, I planted my Black Sweet Potato Vine. Today, I am editing.
Today. A resident mentioned that it was her parents 76th wedding anniversary and I replied that that was outstanding, and I’d hoped to reach that milestone and then realized and said, that I don't have enough life in me, and it made me instantly maudlin.
I went to work on a piece about summer in Sicily and then stumbled on another piece about my time in Sicily. Remnants of a project that I never completed. Now, my memory is worse and I’m glad for the photos I took and the fieldnotes I kept.
Tomorrow, I hope to get some more editing done and read another manuscript.
Have a good night!