6-21-16
I found this rejection letter going through an old file cabinet at the last minute before our move last week. If I had given up then, for good, I would have abandoned a dream.
This is my first rejection letter from almost six years ago, when I first made a real go at being a writer. My son was only a year old and he inspired me, even then, to go for my dream of being a writer. I remember putting him for a nap–mostly in my arms–and sitting at my computer to write the query letter I sent. His hair was very blonde then and I actually remember thinking that I would go for my own dream so that I could show the sweet and resting, blonde-haired boy how to go for his own someday.
This letter came and others followed, and I put the dream aside to mother and teach, or so I told myself. It was really because I was afraid to fail. As Coelho writes in “The Alchemist,” “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” And that was certainly the case for me. I was discouraged; I was afraid. And, I had no real intention of ever writing again for anyone but myself. But then, my son grew up and my daughter was born and I found myself again as I was long ago. And I owed it to myself and to them to try again. So, I did.Continue Reading