You start out, excited and ready. You work hard, you learn a lot. You make progress and hit your first Big Boss. It might take a few tries, but finally you beat him. You've developed skills that finally enable you to beat the boss and get to the end.
And then you go to level two.
Level two teaches you how much you still have left to learn, and it hits you maybe for the first time how many levels there are ahead of you. It's very easy to give up at this point. You've had some success. You've beat a Big Boss already, haven't you?
This is the make or break moment, and we all face them. Maybe in some areas its okay to leave it here, but we all have something that we're determined to see it through to the end. For us its writing.
I've had half a dozen rejections in the past week, and that can be really disheartening. Here are a few things I'm remembering, and maybe remembering will help you too.
- I'm remembering that I'm getting so many rejections because I'm doing so many submissions.
- I'm remembering that many of these rejections are personal and final cut rejections. I didn't get any of those a few years ago. This is progress.
- I'm remembering that Brandon Sanderson wrote 12 novels before he got one published, and now look at him.
- I'm remembering that I am two writing groups richer than I was a few months ago, and this has made my writing much better.
- I'm remembering that I just have to keep writing, because something eventually will work out.
- I'm remembering that music always makes me feel good.
Write on!
Sarah
All very true! And you won't ever get to that point if you quit.
ReplyDeleteAn encouraging post. Congratulations that you are getting personal rejections and final cuts. That definitely is progress.
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ReplyDeleteYour "bosses" analogy spoke to me, but in regards to life rather than writing.
ReplyDeleteSchool was the biggest boss of all. Then there was my degree which was a real trudge, especially towards the end. The boss I'm fighting right now is another diploma. And meanwhile I've come across a new boss: a job. Only being casual, some weeks are hard, but I'm hoping my commitment will see me through to permanent work.