Jaded

Another day, another A-Z challenge post. 

J is for Jaded.

I have a fair amount of writer friends circling the query and submission drains, trying to read way too much into a form rejection. (Shh . . . but I am not the exception here.  I live in that drain!)  Publishing is a hard business to wrap your mind around, one that is filled with more set-backs and more rejections then it is acceptance.

I remember my first rejection, a simple "thanks for the look, but the project is not right for my list"  kind of note.  It stung like a b#%*h.  The second, the third, heck the twelve rejection rolled in not long after, and I was tempted to close myself off, become impervious to the pain of rejection.  It sure would have been easier for my ego, but it would have killed my writing.

How you say?  How did getting all riled up about a rejection . . . how did the well of tears help my writing?  Simple. I took all that emotion, the joy of getting a request to the bitter sting of the eventual "no thank-you" and poured it into my characters.  I infused them with every ounce of emotion I had, letting my pain flow through them and onto the pages.  It worked, and not only did I stay sane through out the entire process, but I created characters with a depth that went deeper then the black ink scribbled on the page.

So although it is easy to become jaded in this creative field, I beg you not to.  Use the roller coaster of emotions to your's and your character's benefits. Channel your anger, your frustration, your joy into them and you will be amazed at what you can create.