Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Ever felt like a total failure? Ready to give up? If you're a writer, I know you have. It goes with the territory. A somewhat overused metaphor is that we writers are on a journey, but it's so appropriate. We travel from that beginning step down a long and winding road that has many roadblocks along the way.

Those roadblocks come in the form of rejections that pop up in our mailbox or inbox. Get enough of them and you might very well feel like a failure. Well guess what? You're not a failure at all.

You should be learning something from each one of those rejections. I know people who get angry and never look at the submission that was rejected. They either file it or toss it. Wait a day or two, then take a good, hard look at that submission. Try to look objectively. Hard to do, I know, when it's your own precious words, but try it. Maybe you'll see something that can be changed. Maybe it still looks like gold to you and you see no reason for the rejection. Some rejections come because the editor couldn't use it at the time, not because it was a bad piece. In a poor economy, this could easily be the case. Editors deal with budgets, advertising sales etc. so are limited in what they can publish. Sometimes, the reason is poor writing. If so, it can be changed.

There are times in our writing life when we seem blessed with acceptances. Might get several in a row. You feel as though you've moved forward on your journey, and then comes that next rejection. Two steps forward, one step back. My friend, Annette Gendler, teaches memoir writing classes. In one of her blog posts, she stated that the average rejection among her writing friends is about 30 rejections for each piece that makes it. You need to work hard to keep yourself from feeling like a failure. You're not alone in the rejection game. You have lots of company.

The important thing here is to keep moving forward, even if you do take a step back now and then.  Just the other day, a reader of this blog contacted me to say that she'd finally had a story accepted. She would soon be published after many tries and many disappointments. I was so happy for her and felt some admiration for her perseverance. She didn't give up; she kept moving along on that path to publication. I hope this is the first of many to come, but she'll most likely hit a few more bumps in the road. I don't think they will deter her now. She'll keep taking those two steps forward with only an occasional step backward. No doubt she's learned a lot along the way. 

A Writer's Walk

This morning, I rolled out of bed, threw on some clothes and headed outside to walk. The 'suddenly summer' weather means my walks must be taken early in the day.

It was only 71 degrees but humid and with very little breeze. I was stiff this morning as I often am, thanks to Mr. Arthritis who visits me in the early hours of the day.

I headed to the walking trail not far from our house. It's a nice place to exercise with the backyards of homes on either side. Lots of trees, shrubs and flower beds to catch the eye. Birdsong usually keeps me company. I've been trying to get the walking habit back after a long hiatus. Need to shed about six pounds that has a death grip on my hips and also on doctor's orders to get moving to get my blood pressure down a little, too.

When you ache, it's hard to keep those feet moving. Before I'd gotten halfway on my usual route, I was ready to quit, but I kept putting one foot in front of the other. I looked ahead at the upward incline and the long way to the turning point. I didn't want to keep going. Each move hurt, but I kept on. I knew that each step was getting me closer to the place where I could turn and head toward home. Home was where my chair, the newspaper and a cup of coffee waited for me. A worthy goal!

When I made the turn and headed back toward home, the steps didn't seem quite so bad. Then, I started getting a little of breath. It takes awhile to get back into the walking for exercise habit. I started to sweat and my hips were crying for some relief. But I put one foot in front of the other and kept moving. Before long, I could see my house and my steps quickened. I could almost smell the coffee!

My writer's journey has been much the same way. I've had goals in my writing world and I've tried to reach them one step at a time. I've met obstacles along the way but I've made progress, even if it seems to come slowly at times. It's not so hard if you keep on putting one foot in front of the other.