Category Archives: acceptance and rejection

The Anti-Rejection Slip

Sometimes you wonder if you’ll ever get published. What is it about publication that lures us? For some, you need to publish to teach in a college setting. For some, it’s the satisfaction of knowing someone thinks highly of your work–your blood, your guts, your all.

It’s nice to be validated and to share your work and hope that it makes some kind of difference. It has been said, time and time again, that there are a billion rejections before an acceptance. The key is to keep trying. I can’t tell you how discouraged I became, when I tried my best and really polished something and it got a big, fat “No.” Sometimes that “no” is because the work needed more time and we didn’t see that. Sometimes, we pitched it to a publisher whose journal wasn’t quite in tune with what we were saying…

For whatever reason, rejection is hard, but it does make the good news of publication even sweeter. Bear with me, here, I’m an idealist. After a few attempts at publishing pieces of my memoir–talk about not taking rejection personally!–I sank back into editing and giving the work a great deal of space.

Then, the seeds of determination sprouted and I vowed to send out two excerpts a week until something was published. Maybe it was the extra time I took or the extra set of eyes on my excerpt. Maybe it was the power of positive thinking. But it happened. I carefully researched some journals that might appreciate the unique content of my memoir and submitted to them.

Did it feel great to get that acceptance letter? Yes. Did I jump up and down in my study and scare the cat with my jubilant dancing? Yes. Is it any reason to take a break–NO. The piece is live, people are (hopefully) reading it, and I have some validation that someone, other than myself, took the work seriously.

But what is more important is to forge on. Is it that you want a billion publications? Your ego might crave that, but the appropriate answer is because the work itself is reward enough. It does parallel that “life is a journey” euphemism, I know, but I have found it to be true.
It’s like looking at your neighbor’s house and wishing your house was as big as his…look instead to that cozy little house you’ve made your own and relish in it. I suggest that metaphor for your writing life.

If you are really a writer then you know, even if you procrastinate, whine, complain and excuse away your precious writing time that the writing itself is as necessary as going to the bathroom and more joyful than indulging in that Caramel Macchiato you’ve withheld from for so long.

So, write on, writer friends. The reward is yours to reap if you just give yourself time and space for it.

Be well,

Rachael

P.S. If you should care to check out a great writing journal and see some great works and art, please visit: http://www.thewritingdisorder.com

Their new edition is up and also exhibits the labor of my memoir writing. Thanks!

The Great Big No

I’ve noticed how my two blogs will often coincide. I spoke on Unsung Throes about The Lemonheads and how their song “The Great Big No” helped me recently deal with another rejection of my work. Fortunately, all of my rejections thus far have been kind.

I once learned my lesson, however, with “asking what could have made it a yes” with an application to a graduate school that shall remain unnamed. The Dean of the school tore my credentials and writing samples apart. It was almost enough to reduce my writing psyche to nothing, but thankfully, I prevailed and was warmly welcomed to Wilkes University’s low-res Creative Writing program. There, they thought highly of my writing and the possibilities for my future as a professional writer.

That being said, this recent rejection wasn’t unkind but it came on a week where everything felt like it was falling apart: lack of sleep, disagreement with a friend, unnerving doubt about something, looming student loans, etc.

For a writer who has always been a writer, the last four times I have submitted work I’ve been told no. Each no was polite but, like any writer, caused me pouty, “Why doesn’t anyone like my writing?” moments.

Teach while you write is the resounding advice. I’ve seen these perfect teaching gigs and they all start with, “Must have a strong record of publications” or “must have at least one significant publication.” So how do I advance in my writing career if I don’t have any (nationally recognized) publications?

Well, for one, I keep writing. That is my advice to any struggling writer. It isn’t that you’re not good at what you do, necessarily. It is, perhaps, that the right audience hasn’t discovered you yet and vice versa. Keep looking for them. I have faith that mine is out there somewhere.

In the meantime, thanks for reading/listening/supporting me here. My blogging audience is small but loyal and I thank you all. You might be the push I need to make it in the writing world.

Be well, keep your chin up and keep writing.

Rachael

Enjoy? The Silence.

Maybe I shouldn’t be writing this on a sick day because everything is heightened even though it should be dulled. I opened my email to read the first lines from a place I submitted a poem to, recently. The opener said, “Dear Rachael, I’m so sorry not to have gotten back to you sooner…” and for some reason, I thought that would be followed with GOOD NEWS. Much to my chagrin: NO. It was not. It was yet another rejection of a poem I’d written. I know, don’t get down, keep submitting, and so on.

But let me just say for a moment, I started this blog to inspire writers and to give advice and get advice and maybe to give advice to myself. Sometimes, to ramble. Let me do that today, and thank you for listening.

Both of my blogs, this one, and “Unsung Throes” fall under my username: kindalikeapoet. I specifically chose this title a) because it comes from a Replacements song b) because said song is written for me, or so I’d like to think c) because I wrestle with my identity and abilities as a poet d) all of the above.

If you chose any of the above, or D, you’re correct. Pat yourself on the back. We here at Feeling Sorry For Ourselves Poet Corner applaud your effort and precision. We’ll be sure to publish your contributions in our comment box below.

Except for university publications, or my own, Word Fountain (see thelibrarywordfountain on wordpress), I have never had a piece, especially not a poem, professionally or nationally recognized. I write poetry and inspire (hopefully?) poets because I love words, poetry and music more than oxygen itself and, without any of those vices, I’d cease to exist.

Once, when I was ten, I wrote a terribly prophetic poem called The Meaning of it All and that was published by one of those “Wow, you’re a professionally published poet! Now celebrate your success by purchasing our gargantuan anthology for only $75!” But for the time being, I was exalted. My sixth grade teacher found out and announced, “We have a published poet among us!” holding my poem, which got an honorable mention at the school fair, high above her head.

I knew then that I was a writer, having a 402 page (in ink and notebook) novel done and scrolls of poetic ramblings from kitchen napkins to Mom’s credit card receipts to water bottles and sharpies. I was a poet. I was a writer. That was my destiny.

It still is. But I lost sight of it for a good long time. A long enough time that my self confidence was in the gutter and to even think that I could be a poet was unimaginable. Only I was, and I always have been. When I heard The Replacements’ “Achin’ to Be” whose lyrics express the inner struggle I feel with my own creative endeavors, there was no other name in which to call these online web blogs.

While getting my MFA from Wilkes University’s Creative Writing program, I learned that you turn rejection slips into poetry, both literally and figuratively. But small rejections like this, so early in my efforts to publish my poetry dishearten me. Those tiny nagging voices of doubt start whispering that my poetry does not belong among my peers.

But I am a writer and a poet. My annoyingly optimistic outlook does not offer another alternative. I’ll keep trekking along, I suppose.

In the meantime, enjoy this as a consolation prize for listening to me muse, whine and feel sorry for my rejection:

http://youtu.be/at4DL40FQ7Y

Be well, rock and write on,

Rachael

P.S. Is it any coincidence that my Eddie Vedder Pandora station just played “Light Today” which is about seeing the good in everything? I think not.