And It's Still A Long Time Except For . . .

. . . this Writers Group Observation.

I shared my agony (OK, a little Trumpian exaggeration and yes, Don, I know how you feel about parenthetical comments) with our Writers Group facilitator and she gave me advice which, for the moment at least, I have no intention of following.  (More fool I.  Hi Don.)

But (a big butt as a childhood chum used to say.  Hi again, Don.) it did spark a related thought that I would not have had otherwise and allowed me to submit a short work for publication.  It is something I wrote awhile ago "sharpening the sword", never thinking I would submit it. But (see big etc. above) I added a little something, made some changes, combined this advice with another seemingly unrelated suggestion from another Group member, and mailed it.

The point is (finally) participating actively in my WG has opened an informed possibility, triggered by her comment) I never would have had otherwise.

Yes, yes it's been a long time

And I'm sorry about that, but I had a ton of stuff to work out in my own head and I didn't want to burden you with that.  I mean, after all, if you are reading this, you want to hear about obstacles, sure.  That's one of the things that I hope differentiates this blog from the gazillions of others out there.  You get the real emotion from the real guy.

But what you don't need to hear about are insurmountable barriers, and how everything is hopeless, or at least unbearably frustrating.  Phrases such as "I can't stand this anymore," won't appear here.  That sort of thing you can do on your own without my input.

Anyway, I thought all my emotional turmoil, and travelling down totally unnecessary side roads, and trying t answer questions such as "How long is a piece of string?" would be over in a couple of days. And I would publish another sparkling chapter of Dr. Bobby as an interesting way to walk through ups and downs of starting or re-starting your writing.  It wasn't over in a couple of days.  And it will, I think, be more than a couple of days before we see Dr. Bobby and U.R. again, but see them we will. And soon, Well, pretty soon.  Hang in there with this thought - I have been through the valley of the shadow of emotional death, and I'm coming back because I would not, could not, let go.

You do that too.

That'll be $5.00.

Rejection

I heard from a colleague, a published and much more experienced writer who shared his frustration with having a particular story rejected.  It wasn't the rejection, he has learned to roll with that thank you very much.  It was that he regards this particular story as on of his best.

I made a flip comment, which I regret, about my never having had a rejection.  Yes, well, I haven't made an independent submission yet.

To try to make partial amends, I looked up who had been rejected and found so many examples I needed to edit my Facebook posting with an axe.

I now know two things for certain.  

1. Writing is hard.  
2. There ain't nothin' funny about rejection.

Here is what I said:

Just because something happens every day to all kinds of people, I am told, and can vividly imagine, that having your stories rejected by agents and publishers is painful. Some sources report that having your work rejected, especially a piece you are especially proud of, is like being rejected as a person.

I am preparing my psyche for such an inevitable event. Perhaps this may help a little. Probably not but here goes.

Number of Rejections (a selected list)
- Peter Rabbit – uncounted rejections then self-published
- Lady Chatterley’s Lover – all publishers in the UK and US
- Alex Haley – 200 consecutive rejections over 8 years
- Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - 121
- Gone With The Wind – 38
- Carrie - 30
- A Wrinkle in Time – 26
- Dune - 23
- Dubliners – 22
- Auntie Mame; Diary of Anne Frank – tied at 15
- J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone - 12.  Her     agent said: “better get a day job”.

Poetry 
- Gertrude Stein – 22 years
- e.e. cummings - The Enormous Room has a dedication page ‘With No Thanks To’ all 15 publishers who turned it down.

Last but not Least
To prove how hard it is for new writers to break in, Jerzy Kosinski used a pen name to submit his bestseller Steps to 13 literary agents and 14 publishers. All of them reject it, including Random House, who had already published it.