Rejection

I received my first rejection for a story. A friend said I was crazy to look forward to that first rejection. But I was happy to get it. One, it means that I finished a story, submitted it and got an answer. Two, it shows me that this story needs to be submitted somewhere else. Three, it makes me hungry. Hungry to find the publisher that does fit my story; hungry to finish writing the next story and look for its home. I have lots of writer friends. One of the things I admire most about all of them is that they never stop writing. Every one of us is working on something all the time. That tenacity is what keeps the butt in the chair and the fingers on the keyboard.

I have always had a love affair with the written word. I learned to read at an early age and have had a book in my hands ever since. I have been reading "grown up" books since the age of 8. My father saw me writing and gave me an old electric typewriter when I was 11 years old. I named it Bronti because it was like a big old dinosaur. I loved that machine. Since then I have loved many books and written many stories.

Now that I've gotten this first rejection, I feel both relief and freedom. Relief to have passed this hurdle and freedom to write more. It's kind of like my love life. I'm getting divorced -- a big rejection after 13 years. I didn't look forward to it, but now that it's happening I realize just how happy I am to be moving past it. The next chapter in my love life is ready to be written, the prologue has already started. Same with my writing, the next story is already in the works. Now it's time to finish that story and find it a home.

I have to care about the story to write it. I write the stories I like to read. Stories that make me laugh and cry and cuss and blush. Funny thing is, I'm looking for the same qualities in a man that I want in a story. Passion and emotion and honesty. I have learned to only look back to see how far I've traveled. I am on the road and enjoying the ride.

The question is not why did this not work. The question is where will it work. Whether it's a story or a man, the only question I really have is,

Who's next?