“M” writes monthly writing prompts showing a new prompt for each day of the month. Click here for the page for this month.
July 5th’s prompt is “The sting of rejection”
The Sting of Rejection
by Tessa Dean July 2020
The sting of rejection hit me the hardest at the age of 17 when I wrote a story and sent it in to a magazine to be published. Things tend to hit us harder when we are a teen anyhow and this rejection from them totally stopped me from writing for 30 years. I really took it hard. People tried to console me and tell me that it isn’t the end of the world and to keep on writing and sending things in for publication. Don’t quit I heard all the time, but it just tore something out of me and my creativity took a nose dive along with my self-esteem. Forty years later I now understand that one rejection is not the end of the world and that all those famous people have lots and lots of rejection slips, but you can’t tell an emotional teenager that. I wasted 30 years that I could have been writing and maybe even gotten published, but those 30 years are gone. I have been writing constantly for the last eleven years and blogging those stories, poems, etc. Hitting the publish key the first time was very difficult, but almost immediately I had followers and people liking my work and even though I am sure there are plenty who do not like it, it doesn’t matter as much anymore. I know I can write and I don’t need to be published for that to change. I may never publish anything other than to my blogs, but I am happy enough with that. That may change if I suddenly find myself without my SSDI check from Social Security and without a way to survive in this world, but for now it is enough.
(also known as Teresa Smeigh from www.tessacandoit.com)
Tessa –
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
New Author’s Website – http://www.tessadeanauthor.com
Author – Old Writing – http://www.finallyawriter.com
About my life – http://www.tessacandoit.com
Author of a book, a work in progress on the blog, https://tessacandoit.com/government-property-a-memoir-as-a-military-wife/
Highlighted chapters are done and ready to be read.I am also a youtuber in the authortube section on writing. See my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpNS-6gfJ0s8eD1berLwQg
Tessa Dean - Author 