Tis the season for rejections!

The problem:

"To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing be nothing." Elbert Hubbard.

In short, leave your shoes standing in the shadow of what you could be if only you have the courage to show up. This post is for those of you who know who have a bunch of poems, short stories or even a full manuscript ready for submission, but have been crippled by fear of the big R.

REJECTION.

I read some where that you should keep the fleshy Self that breathes your heart into the words on your pages very separate for the Self that submits your work for publication. And I think this is excellent advise. I don't have skin like a rhinos butt. I know the sayings. Thick skin and water off a ducks back. But the truth is that rejection sucks. It hurts. It cries. It burns. ... And as far as I know, if you live a life, it will happen to you. AND...you will live through it. So maybe it's a matter of perspective? Maybe we just need to change up the rules of the Rejection Game and instead of cringing, celebrate the knock backs.

A Solution Perhaps:

Tis the season for rejections! Yep. You read that right. This month Wendy (from On Words and Upwards) and I are celebrating getting our work out there. The first to ten rejections for the month of December wins. Wendy's blog says there is no prize, but I am going to put one up. Being that is tis the season of giving and all.

Prize:

I am going to send an Australian Children's Christmas picture book to the winner, or in the event that you don't have kids, a novel by an Australian author of my choice.

Rules:

1. Open to residents of ANY country.

2. No sending out queries/submissions for the sole purpose of getting rejected. That's a no-fair. These should be serious submissions. The whole point is to get your stuff out there.

3. It can be for anything writing related, competitions, online competitions, novel queries, short stories, poetry submissions... anything writerly. For competitions, I guess if you don't place in the competition, then it can qualify as a rejection. You can also count submissions for which you don't hear back by the end of Dec as a rejection.

4.If you happen to get a couple of partial requests (which

Wendy has, just sayin' cos it's exciting) or get accepted for something, that doesn't matter because it's the rejections we're counting here! You are still in the game.

5. Take the blog badge below and post it on your blog if you are playing with a link to this post or Wendy's post.

6. Thou shall be a follower of this blog and Wendy's blog to be eligible for the prize :)

7. When you get to ten post about your experience on your blog and then let me or Wendy know in the comment section of our blog or email tab@zaeya.com

8. Honor system is at work here :) We can't check out your submissions so no cheating. That would make Wendy and I cry. You don't want to make us cry right?

Blog Badge:

So, come on people. This is easy! Have fun. Think how many places you could send work to. And you can send the same piece to more then one place.