There are No Guarantees

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of work and writing. I was able to take some time off yesterday and head to one of the beach towns near me and have dinner with the hubster. After dinner, we went for a walk on the beach. I got some great shots of the sunset and it was nice to get some fresh air. It was good to get outside. Other people had the same idea because the beach was packed and there was a lot of traffic, much like the traffic on a hot, sweltering day.

Photo from last night’s walk

But enough about that. Today I want to talk about something that I feel many writers struggle with, including me. And that is, the fact there are no guarantees. You can be the best writer in the world, but your story may not be what agents and publishers are looking for. It’s a bitter pill to swallow especially after you’ve spent so much time writing the story, then editing it, and rewriting parts of it. Sometimes, you have to ask yourself if it’s worth all the time and effort you’ve invested in it.

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But when you really think about it, there are no guarantees in anything in life. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get a job in your field of study once you graduate from college. There’s no guarantee that the person you’ve invested so much time with will be the one you end up in a long-term relationship or marriage with. There are really no guarantees for anything in life.

That’s why, you have to enjoy the process. You must enjoy the act of writing. Of putting sentences together to form a story in order for it to be worth it. It can’t be all about the result. We all want to be bestselling authors, but we don’t know if we’re going to get there or not. All we can do is put the time in, write, and hope.

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But if you enjoy the act of writing, you can do it just for the pure joy of it. You can see your own growth even if the rest of the world doesn’t appreciate it. When you can get to that point, it doesn’t matter whether or not the public appreciates your work, you do. So keep writing. Besides, there are other avenues available to authors these days, like self-publishing. But that’s another blog post for another day.

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So, keep writing and hoping. You’ll get where you need to go. Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. How about you? Are you writing for the pure joy of it? How do you overcome the end result blues? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

Dealing with Disappointment

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of busyness with work, writing, and kids. The beginning of the school year is hard for me because I have to put my writing on the back burner and deal with back to school chores.

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Even though we did virtual learning for the first three weeks, it was still busy. Next week, we start the in-person learning and I have to say, I’m nervous. However, both boys want to do in-person and I’m abiding by their wishes. They miss their friends and they need to get away from their computers. So, cross your fingers for me.

But enough about that, today I’d like to talk about goals. I want to get away from the virus for a short time, so I’m going to focus on something more positive.

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What do you do when you don’t reach your goal? Let’s say you don’t find that agent or publisher? Or you don’t get that promotion? What then? It’s disappointing for sure, so how do you handle that setback? I know what you’re thinking…this was supposed to be a positive post. Bear with me. It is. 😉

I’ve found a way to take the bite out of that disappointment. The way I handle it is…I feel the disappointment, but then focus on another goal. I have three or four goals I’m trying to achieve at one time.  For example, I’m trying to lose weight and maintain my health, so I have exercise and dietary goals. I am also trying to move up in my work environment, so I have professional goals. So, when one goal doesn’t come to fruition, I focus on another one until the disappointment subsides.

For example, let’s say I don’t get the job I applied for, so I change my focus and focus on the fact that I lost some weight, or I finished my novel, or I started a new one. By doing this, I move on much more quickly and don’t sink into that pit of despair. This technique works for me and I hope it’ll work for you, too.

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So, how do you handle setbacks? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

Handling Rejection

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after another busy week at work, and the bustle of starting another school year. We had a few hiccups, but we’ve worked them out, and the boys are settling in to online learning. I’ve also been working on my writing and my story is coming together. This one is flowing and I’m hoping to have it done by the end of the year. Fingers crossed. 😊

 

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But enough about that. Today, I’d like to talk about handling rejection. Rejection is hard to take no matter what the circumstances are. In the writing world, it’s especially hard because all the time and energy you put into your story has to be reflected in a query letter and a few sample pages. It makes it tough if that letter and pages don’t hook the agent, and it is so subjective.

 

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I’ve queried agents who have given me a rejection plus some feedback. This is like a nugget of gold. They’ve told me why my pages didn’t draw them in. It’s a learning process and I learn from each one. I haven’t received a form rejection in quite some time, so I’ve got that going for me. 😉

 

The way I handle rejection is by reminding myself that by receiving the said rejection is getting me one step closer to an acceptance. That’s all it is, a stepping stone to the right agent. So, that’s the attitude I have when I get a rejection and I feel it’s a positive one.

 

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When you write, you need to be open to criticism and to revising your story. I know it’s hard to kill your darlings, but we want our story to not only land agent, but to sell when it’s published. So, take that rejection on the chin, rise, and brush yourself off.  Make those revisions and be the amazing author I know you can be. You’ve got this.

 

How do you handle rejection? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!