I once told my mother that airlines stopped serving peanuts because the smell of all the bags opening at the same time made some of the passengers vomit. I read this detail somewhere and thought it interesting, but not near as interesting as her response. "They need to grow up. Such babies, vomiting on a plane!" If I expected sympathy for these hypothetical nauseated passengers, none came. I had to laugh -- only my mother could get mad at someone for being sick to their stomach. And I have to admit, while this lack of sympathy bothered me in my younger years, it prepared me for the life of a writer. The horrible wounding every writer faces -- rejection. The R word. The close but not quite. The old this isn't for us. The we wish you best of luck in the future.
If you send your darlings out into the world, things happen. Like you get rejection slips that hurt your heart, wound your confidence, and wear you down. You develop a thick skin. A much needed one. You work hard. You get some publications. You feel you're over the rejection issue. Everyone gets them, right? No big deal. But then you get four in one day. On your favorite story. You tell yourself to shake it off. But it's tough. Tomorrow is another day. Maybe you only get one tomorrow. It wears on the soul. I wish I could tell you my magical formula for this affliction. There isn't one. Like a kitten on a poster, you hang in there.
Michelle's Spell of the Day
"Don't wait for the good woman. She doesn't exist." Charles Bukowski
Cocktail Hour
Anyone watching Weeds this season? Loving it!
Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Wednesday!
8 comments:
Any peyote on "Weeds"?--Tony S.
The Good Woman of Setzuan!--A.Checkoff
A Good Woman!--O. Wilde(Scarlett J. version)
Good women do exist! I live with one, and I love her. But one does have to mangle the word 'good' just a little bit.
Anonymous Bukowski fan.
~
Once more, congratulations on Dead Girl, Live Boy. Urban Tennessee Williams... lol, Yeah.
On rejection and rejection slips form, cheaply cut from a larger piece of paper or hand written...repeat after me and I will give you the magic formula, the one that takes the sting out of it all...ready?
Now just repeat after me, that's all you have to do to make the magic. Are you sure you're ready now? Just repeat this as your mantra from Detroit.
OK Here Goes..."Fuck "em"
I generally am very aware that my outer confidence as a writer is a very thin veneer. It is easily shattered, although somewhat less easily than it used to be when I started. Somewhat.
What I like about your writing, is what keeps me coming back.... yeah, and.... it's all good :-)
What I like about your writing, is what keeps me coming back.... yeah, and...... it's all good :-)
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