In December of last year, I received an e-mail stating that one of my stories had made it to the Final Selection Round for a Chicken Soup for the Soul book. I was really excited because I hadn't submitted anything to them in a couple of years. (And why had I not been sending them stories? I guess it was because of my awful writers block, self-sabotage, etc. etc.)
Below is the first paragraph of that December 2011 e-mail:
Your
story “Rocky Loses by a TKO” has made it to the final selection round
for Chicken Soup for the Soul: I Can't Believe My Dog Did That! Only a
small percent of the submitted stories have made it this far. The vast majority
of stories in this “last round” will appear in the book, but we do not make the
final decisions until about a month before the publication date.
Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy! I signed that contract and sent it immediately, and obviously being aware I wouldn't know for sure if my story would make it into the book or not, I still had confidence. I thought of so many ways to spend that $200! The other times that I'd made it this far, my story was selected.
Well.....not this time. I received this e-mail today:
I am sorry, I just received the final TOC (Table of Contents) from our editor and unfortunately your story was not selected.
And of course, my initial reaction was WHAT? Huh? How can this be?
But for the first time, my surprise, hurt, and disappointment only lasted mere seconds. And I truly believe it's because I'm doing so well with my memoir! Thank goodness for that, or I may have moped around for too long! I've had my writing rejected before, several times, but that happens to ALL writers, and I always say it's like that slogan for the state lottery: "You can't win, if you don't play."
So, the reason for this blog post is to advise all writers, artists, photographers, etc. to keep on submitting! Don't let a couple of rejections knock you down. Keep on, keepin' on!
Happy Weekend, Everyone!
"I
think that you have to believe in your destiny; that you will succeed, you will
meet a lot of rejection and it is not always a straight path, there will be
detours – so enjoy the view." – Michael York, actor
