Rejected Again

A contact sheet, pictures of my mother, and the edited image.


I've said this before, but I'll say it again..I'm becoming an expert on rejection. Perhaps it stems from my high school days? Just kidding.

Was recently asked to submit for an upcoming book, a book that by all appearances, looks like it will be one I would have loved to be a part of.

But alas, I was rejected. I should have saved my rejection letters, emails, forms, imprints, messages, etc, from the past fifteen years. It would have been a testament to the need for recycling!

Seriously, I've been rejected in every way imaginable. I've even had stuff rejected that wasn't even looked at! No kidding. How do I know that you ask? Believe me, I have my tricks and ways of knowing. I'm sly in case you haven't figured it out.

I've even been rejected from things that weren't really open in the first place. Like an opening that wasn't really an opening, but nobody could really say that, so they go through the trouble of announcing and then I enter and get rejected, only to find out later it wasn't open in the first place. Does that make any sense? Even if it doesn't, I've been rejected that way too!

You might think that this really sucks, and in some ways it does, but maybe it makes us work harder the next time around. Or, maybe not.

I recently read something about an age limit, 35, and thought to myself, "Oh crap, now I'm 40, and I can see a new rejection method on the horizon!" I'm too immature to be this old. And irresponsible. And delusional. But I can smell a rejection on the way.

But, even with all these vibrant and celebratory rejections, there are still a few glimmers lighting my dark path. I'm waiting to hear about something now that will wipe this most current rejection away. Little victories, perhaps they are all we can ask for.

But, if this too ends in tragedy, I will remember that each protagonist has tragic flaws, and perhaps I have more than my fair share.

Godspeed rejections, I fear you not.