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Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life
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Dear Reader,
If you have a question about writing or publishing, email it to: Suzanne@EmailBookclub.com You'll find previous questions and answers at: http://tinyurl.com/WritingQ-A
"Dear Suzanne, how do you pick yourself up again after rejection? How do you keep from falling into, 'oh no, I can't do this' and stick with 'This wasn't the right market, I will try again'? I bet I am not the only person who deals with this. Thanks again for answering. I do enjoy your columns."--Molly S.
(Suzanne replies:)
Dear Molly,
Before we talk about how to pick yourself up after rejection, I'd like to stay with the feelings of rejection for a little bit. Disappointment, sadness and even a little anger about something not going my way, these are real feelings, as deep and deserving of my attention as when I succeed. I've earned the right to feel whatever I want. So I don't deny myself a good cry when I'm feeling like a loser.
Reading a rejection letter from an editor, not getting the job, falling short of winning someone's heart, these are the easier burdens to bear when it comes to rejection. I know, it sounds insane, but for me the real hard part, the challenge that I eventually have to face, is finding a way to move on. It's crucial. Some people never move on, the anger and sadness stay with them. I've seen it. They give up, "Well, if they don't like me, I don't care." But you and I know we do care. I do want my dream to come true but that won't happen unless...I try again.
It might take a few days, or weeks, or maybe I need a few months, but eventually I turn to a place deep inside my heart and if I'm quiet and listen, I gently hear the words that encourage me to try again. My strength in life comes from my insecurities. When I feel the sting of rejection, and I can barely breathe because I'm so afraid to try again, that's when I know I must. That's when I know I'm doing something that's very important in my life.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
www.muffinsandmayhem.com
* This month's Penguin Classics book is PATHS OF GLORY by Humphrey Cobb. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/November11Classics
AUTHORBUZZ: Meet author Dominic Smith...
(Fiction) BRIGHT AND DISTANT SHORES
Two orphans, on opposite sides of the Pacific, are set on a collision course at the end of the 19th century. Owen Graves, an itinerant trader from Chicago's South Side, joins a collecting voyage commissioned to bring back thousands of tribal artifacts but also a number of natives for an ethnographic exhibition. Argus Niu, a mission houseboy in Melanesia, wanders into the path of the voyage and his life is changed irrevocably.
Click to read more at: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you.--Author Dominic Smith
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