I Ain't Sayin' I Beat The Devil, But I Drank His Beer For Nothing.

[jasonandrew]

You have to be able to take a hit as a boxer and wait for the time to strike. The ability take rejection and accept criticism is almost as important as the ability to write while building a career as a writer. This year has been very good to me as a writer in general. However, I took a beating the last week that included a large number of rejections and the single worst review I’ve ever received. I won’t lie. It hurt.

Doubt is the enemy when you feel like surrendering. I imagine that all writers feel this way.

It usually happens to me when I am very tired and have had to deal with a lot of rejections. I’ve been exhausted with the extra writing and freelance work I’ve been finishing. The trick is to remember that resting is not a surrender, but a natural part of the process. Sometimes, you need an adventure to remind you while you need to write.

This weekend we vented forth to Portland. I made my annual pilgrimage to Powells. Seeing the thousands of different books on the shelves always strengthens my resolve and will while sparking new ideas and desires.

I did the tacky self-absorbed writer trick. I counted how many books I had on the shelves. I had three anthologies that featured a story, one RPG book, and essay in a collection about slasher movies. Not much, all in all, but I felt pretty good all the same.

Today is my first day writing again after the break. I’m very, very excited.

Comments

[sasjhwa.livejournal.com]

When you find a book that you have written a story in, slip a very small autograph on the first page of the story when no one is looking. ;-)