I think many of us go through life with some sort of plan in mind. We imagine what the future will hold and live in the present in such a way to insure that future materializes. We don’t plan for life’s curveballs because we don’t see them coming.
When life throws us curveballs, once we recover from our initial shock, we begin to look at what options we have left. Sometimes our dreams can be salvaged and still reached in some way. Other times we have to abandon our dreams all together.
How resilient are you? How long does it take to bounce back? Can you bounce back completely? How do the unexpected events in your life affect your plans?
I’ve had a few curveballs in life that I’ve never fully recovered from. I’ve moved on, taking the detritus with me.
As a writer, I hope everything I write is accepted by a publisher and paid for. As a writer, I have found that sometimes no one wants what I’ve written, even if I give it for free. That’s life.
I’ve taken many courses on writing. I’ve read many articles, magazines and books about writing. Bottom line is I have to write and send it out and hope someone sees it, likes it and publishes it.
You have to bounce back quickly as a writer. If you receive a rejection from a publisher, it’s ok to mourn for a little while . . . part of a day or the rest of the day, but by morning, you need to lift your chin back up and look at how you can change the rejected piece, or put it away for later consideration and work on something else.
There’s a lot of different kinds of writing to be done in this world. Writing is done for those three reasons that are abbreviated by P.I.E. . . . To Persuade, to Inform, or to Entertain. Which kind of writing do you do? I tend to do all three. Some days I focus on one type; some days I focus on another.
Usually I don’t finish a piece of writing in one sitting. Even when I do, I come back to it and edit and rewrite until it’s as perfect as I can get it. I pay attention to deadlines and writer’s guidelines. I tend to write a piece and then seek a market. This is easier to do (find a market) when I have a book called The Writer’s Market. The ones I have now are old and I plan to buy a new one soon.
When trying to market my writing, I first use the word count tool online https://wordcounttools.com/ to get an accurate word count and to see what reading level it is written on. I find the subject listings in the Writer Market and then look through the magazines / publishers to see who uses pieces of that length. I also read as much as I can to determine what kinds of things they publish. When possible, I will look at samples of their previous magazines. It’s easier to do now than it was before the internet. I used to have to write the publisher and request a free sample of their magazine. The way to do that was listed in the Writer’s Market writeup of the listing.
Sometimes, even though I’d done my homework about the magazine, had the right word count, sent it to the correct editor, and had followed all the magazine’s guidelines, the piece was rejected. I hated the quick rejections that occurred in two weeks or less. However, I think the ones that took longer, that I thought meant that they were seriously considering publishing it, were harder when the manuscript or poem came back rejected. Those were curveballs in my writing life.
I complained about it to friends or family. I felt sad. I may even have let it affect my writing for that day, but when the sun came up the next day, I realized that life goes on. That was one editor’s opinion and there was no way to know why that editor didn’t value it. It was time to seek another publisher or to work on another piece of writing. Often when I search for markets, I list all the possible markets for the written work. I organize them in order of which one I’d prefer to sell the piece to, but keep the list so when / if it’s rejected, I immediately know where I want to send it next. I usually read over it to see if I can see any problems I failed to spot the first time I submitted the piece, but usually off it goes again to someone else who might have a different opinion. After three rejections, I will retire the piece and look at it again in a few months, or perhaps never at all.
Curveballs are going to come your way in life and in your writing life. How you handle them will make all the difference.
Constance As A Writer 