March 1, 2011
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Wait....
It seems like all I do with my writing lately is wait, and wait, and wait for rejection. I've gotten a bit desperate so I sent a copy of my screenplay Desert Trash to an actor's restaurant in hopes that he'd get tired of washing dishes and read it. I contacted a director via LinkedIn and begged him to read it as well. I have a novel in a YA contest and I don't even check the mail yet. Last years rejection didn't arrive until March sometime. I waited for months to hear that my first version of Desert Trash didn't make the quarterfinals of the Nicholl Foundation contest. It's had a major rewrite and I'll spend the $45 to resubmit it this year along with my new work that has no name yet -- if I finish it in time. It's fighting me tooth and nail and I keep finding myself writing about beheading snakes in it. (I know... I GET the symbolism, but it works on several levels... plus Indiana Jones and I have one in common... our hatred/fear of snakes.)
The hardest part of the waiting is knowing that I'm not pushing the marketing hard enough- not courting enough rejection, not putting my work out there to be rejected in hopes that I'll find an agent who believes in me and a publisher who'll take a risk on a new writer in a dying market.
And so... I wait... and I write... and I push myself to be strong enough to accept the rejection that is part of the writing process...
All I want to do is write.... and get paid a little by it once in a while!
Comments (13)
It's so amazing..art is the manna that nourishes our souls and yet it's so difficult to get people to eat it.
@piqued - well said!
I'm sure your time will come. Hang in there!
Try technical writing, speech writing, copy, advertisements, magazine submissions, greeting cards, and check out Sylvester Stallone's story. He admits he's failed over 90% of the time. He sounds like Rocky all over again! I feel for you. Writing is the last thing I want to do! It really does seem like a panderers business. You probably do need an agent.
I would be lost if people stopped writing. Keep sending those submissions! good luck. I look forward to reading some of your works some day!
@POETIC_ISIS - Good advice!
Jeri, keep going. I've read your stuff and I really enjoy it. And I'm super picky when it comes to books, so that says a lot. I wish there was more I could do to help. If only you had a penchant for erotica... cuz I have a friend who edits that.
@BoureeMusique - @GoodGuyTheBoss - @POETIC_ISIS - @icapillas - thanks for the encouragement, everyone. It's more about my being wiling to keep sending stuff out until it finds just the right person and believing it will happen. it's easy for me to get sidetracked and not send anything anywhere bc of the fear of rejection. but i sent something to another agent and the waiting game continues!
I hear ya, sister. I've been dropping manuscripts in the mail a lot lately. Waiting is an art in and of itself.
I'm sure your writing will get published. I believe it will happen for you. Just keep going after your dream.
Get some KIDS to act out scenes from your screenplays and put it up on YouTube, it goes VIRAL and you've got a DEAL
ME
NONE of my stuff translates at that level
but YOU've got a lot of stuff that cwould crossover on YouTube
@transvestite_rabbit - it is, isn't it? all the time between when you let go of something and wait for news is a lifetime! hope you have good news soon!
@Shining_Garnet - thanks for the words of encouragement. the good news is that i keep improving! keeping the dream alive is difficult in this slow economy, but i do believe that i just have to find 1 right person!
@EminemsRevenge - is that bc your stuff is complex literature and mine isn't?
thanks for the confidence in me!