Prove Yourself. Write.

Never give up.

I had to channel my inner Winston Churchill and repeat his mantra to myself several times today. Never give up. Never give up.  I perused the informal rejection email from the university literary journal this morning.  “We are sorry to inform you…blah blah blah.”  Apparently, according to the editor, my writing isn’t literary enough to take up space on a page, and twenty-first century rejection is no longer worth a letter and a stamp.

Whatever.

However, the slight sting of having my work rejected still resonates. It’s humbling and irritating. Momentarily, I want to press the “off” button on my laptop and hang up the life as a scribe.

 No way.

The indignity of rejection just sparked a fire under my seat. I remind myself of what I tell my college students:  prove them wrong and prove yourself right. The students (captive audience) listen to my tales of woe about my high school guidance counselor who once told me once that I wasn’t college material. I am grateful to said counselor, because she irritated me so much that I set out to prove her wrong. (That reminds me: I still need to send her my undergraduate and graduate school transcripts.) Hopefully, those words will inspire students to prove themselves right and quiet all the internal and external nay-saying.

I have published many times in my life.  I am paid writer, presenter, and author, but rejection letters still sting. I will take that sting and propel that energy into motivation to finish revising the novel, so hopefully soon, I can send an invitation to the editors for an author signing.

Prove Them Wrong. Prove Yourself Right. I don’t care in what order. Just don’t stop writing.

Prove Yourself. Write.