Paper Cuts, Dog-Poop Smears, and Rejection

Rejection sucks. In an ideal world, I would simply reject rejection, so that little scum-bag of an emotion knows how it feels. Sadly, for us writers, rejection is probably one of the most important emotions to endure.On one hand, rejection is a blow to the gut. It slices you at the core of your passion and leaves you dried up at the bottom of a ditch somewhere, sapped of all motivation. But on the other, rejection makes you better. It points out your flaws, sharpens your story-lines, and cultivates a better style.Think of it like a flower—yes, a flower. Don’t judge me for my choice of metaphoric devices! I’ll use a flower if I want to, thank you very much. Eh-hem—anyways—rejection is like pruning a flower. It cuts off the dead-ends—the leaves that are browning and the buds that are wilting—in hopes that the flower at the center will grow stronger, and live longer, without all those unnecessary bits holding it back.That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. Believe me, it will hurt. It’ll hurt like one of those obnoxious paper-cuts that you get in-between your fingers; you know, the one that no matter how many times you try, a Band-Aid will never stick to? Yeah, it’ll hurt like that. And be annoying like that. Yes—just like that.But that doesn’t mean writers should run away from obstacles with their pens cowering between their legs, fearing rejection behind every corner. For the longest time, I refused to show any of my work to anyone. And you know what happened? I didn’t get any better. It was only when I made myself vulnerable to rejection that improvement and progress were able to happen. When I crushed fear and refused to let it cripple me, I was able to conquer my writing—and conquer rejection.All this just to say, I hate rejection. I really, really do. It sucks, it hurts, it stinks like that annoying smear of dog-poop you stepped in this morning—everyone knows it’s there, we all smell it. But if there’s one thing I hate more than dog-poop scented rejection, it’s this: I hate being afraid. So, I leave you with this simple thought—don't be.