Getting back on the hobby horse...

Waving… not drowning in rejection notes.

If you thought I’d been a bit quiet, well quieter than usual lately, you would have been correct in your assumption.

I took a little time out to reflect on which direction I’m headed with my writing. And I’ve come to a conclusion:

I need to change the way I think about my writing and the platforms I submit my work too. Around a month ago I received a rejection note. A critique that took me by surprise and knocked me off my perch. In fact it sent me spinning off my axis a bit. What’s worse is that I didn’t take my own advice on how to survive ‘rejection notes’ which I wrote more than a year ago.

I was caught off guard and I took the harsh rejection note comments, personally. Foolish really, when I come to reflect on the matter.

Luckily I’ve come into land now and realised something important: I have to change the way I react to a ‘harsh critique.’ And moving forward from this incident I have to accept a ‘critique’ however it is delivered is a ‘tool’ and not a teachers report. And it should not matter if it’s been delivered by a grammarian.

Given that I already knew, that what I write, and the writer’s voice I use, will not satisfy all editors or readers. I simply forgot this detail when my enthusiasm and expectation turned sour.

I needed the wake up call because until that email the absolute majority of rejections I had received have been less abrasive, and more amenable to my disposition. This one wasn’t and I ended up asking for help. I approached a couple of writer friends, people whom I trust. These lovely writers came to my aid, reviewed my story and restored my faith in human nature. I am grateful and know that I am extraordinarily lucky to know these people.

I may not be the best writer… yet!

I may not have won any writers’ awards…yet.

But I enjoy writing. I love observing people. I love writing about what makes people tick, what jars and dials up emotions in any type of relationship. So I’ll continue to write and keep the unsympathetic rejection note on a big spike.

Because who knows what’s round the next corner… I mean, not all marriages are made in heaven… who thought Waterstone’s would form an alliance to sell Amazon Kindles!