For me, story submissions of any kind feels like getting in line for one of those theme park free-fall rides where you sit on the little bicycle seat, get strapped in like a baby in a carseat and then get dropped seven stories. You're a little excited, you're pretty scared, and you know it's going to probably hurt.
A lot.
Yeeeaah, at a time like this I always just want somebody to hold my hand and ride with me :-(
Seriously, rejection sucks. There's a part of me that would almost rather just not know that my writing is no good and nobody is interested. I'd almost rather just blissfully think I've got a shot at this whole writing business.
Almost. Fortunately, the desire to actually succeed is stronger than that head-in-the-sand mentality.
On a slightly different note, does anybody else feel that disorienting mental split when they read their own stuff? Half of me is like THIS IS GENIUS! and the other half is like Nobody in their right mind will want this stuff. It's AWFUL.
Hopefully, the reality is somewhere in the middle between those two. Or, hey, I'd settle for the former... :-)
Reading your own stuff is really hard. The only way I can get the perspective for the big picture is to put the story/book away for several weeks.
ReplyDeleteProbably because parts of it are genius and parts of it are awful? That's my theory.
ReplyDelete@ Connie Too true. Putting it away is best for me too, but EVEN THEN I think I like them too much. Whenever I think, "this is amazing" I figure I have to be seeing it wrong. I don't know if this is humility or just self-deprecation?
ReplyDelete@ Jaimie Lol. Quite possible :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd I should have clarified. When I say "that's my theory" I mean "my" with double strength. It's my theory which I apply to MY work. I don't mean just you!
ReplyDelete@ Jaimie Hahaha, no I understood. Would've been pretty funny if you HAD just meant me though.
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