Dear Writing Diary Entry #1
February 2nd, 2024
Dear Writing Diary,
Today my short story was rejected for inclusion in a fantasy anthology, and it still stings just thinking about it. About how all my late nights and early mornings spent creating a rich immersive world and compelling story over the course of several months seems almost like a waste now. No—writing something I’m proud of, something I believe to be beautiful could never really be a waste, I know that deep down.
Still…it never fails to amaze me how handling rejections on my writing never gets easier. I’ve had plenty of practice after all! Over ten years of agents’ rejections for five books, and then when I finally landed an agent for my sixth book, three more rounds of editors’ rejections for that book. A normal person—a sane person—would have given up by now. Years ago, more likely. And perhaps I should. Perhaps someday I will.
But then again, I’ve said that before, and yet here I am. Still writing words to fill up the blank space on a piece of paper or computer screen. Still daydreaming of worlds I hunger to experience even if it’s simply through a compilation of sentences that eventually add up into books.
Which is why I suppose after writing this diary entry, I will go back to writing and revising my seventh book to ultimately be seen (and possibly rejected) by editors once again. I still have my agent after all. I still have people in my life who believe in me even if my belief in myself and in my own writing is shaky at the moment to say the least.
Here’s to seeing what tomorrow holds.
-K