Recently I was published by a poetry magazine and I thought this post could touch on this subject.

Here it is if you want to look at it:

In the literary world it is normal to get rejected a few dozen times before you get accepted. As Thomas Edison said…

This quote was/is always in the back of my mind. If you think you failed, then you did, you failed to keep trying. It might not have worked out the way you intended, but maybe the way you intended isn’t the way it was supposed to work out. You are usually your biggest critic.

When we define the word success we get a more specific word to refer to. In the first definition shown it doesn’t mention anything about what other people think or tell you. ‘The achievement of something desired, planned or attempted.’ if you ‘fail’ atleast you tried. Maybe sometimes we have too defined a sense of what success is. Your ‘failure’ is defined by your own goals and guidelines.

“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” - Jack Canfield

This post is more of a pep-talk, but sometimes we need it.

The first submission I sent I had to wait a few months to hear back and I later got a letter back from the editor (handwritten) saying the magazine couldn’t use my writing, but I kept it. Not because it was the first (necessarily) but because it was handwritten by the editor in chief. To people that don’t understand what the big deal is…for an aspiring writer like me, I ran around the house saying, “I got my first rejection letter! Look, hand-written! Just 9,999 more and I might get published.” The fact that the editor took the time out of her very busy schedule to write a rejection letter to me filled me with joy. To my fellow published poets and writers you know what I mean.

So work hard, push forward, live daring and walk in the unknown, cause that’s when the unforgettable adventures will come.

Thank you for reading and please spread the word,

Le Stylo