Why Am I Doing This Again?

This has been an eventful week for me. My homeschool group had our promotion ceremony, I finished putting together our yearbook (with the help of my faithful yearbook staff), there have been a whole slew of miscellaneous happenings, and I've gotten two replies on stories I had submitted.


The first reply was good. I've sold my personal essay ("Measurements") for the fourth time. I have no idea when it will be out, but I will post as soon as it is.


The second reply was not so good--another rejection for a short story I have out there. It's one I really put a lot of heart into and so far it's been rejected three times. I knew from the beginning it would be a hard story to place, but that doesn't make the rejections any easier.


What does? And what makes us writers put ourselves through this over and over?


What drives us to write? Why are we not content to keep it as a hobby? Why must we send our stuff out there, insistent on trying to put our work where others can read it? Most writers will tell you it is certainly not the money.


For me, it's the thought of bringing to other readers the experience I have when I read a great book. I love losing myself in another world. That is probably why fantasy is my number one genre--it's really, really another world I get to get lost in.

I've now created my own world to get lost in. I suppose I could be content in that. And in a way, I am. But to know that I've created a world other people can get lost in--that would be the coolest feeling. The thing is, there is no way of finding out if I've done that without subjecting myself to rejections.

And so, I keep trying. Not just with my book, but with my short stories. My mini-worlds. The possible stepping stones to getting my big world out there.

Yep, rejections are all part of this. And I ask myself all the time if it is worth it.

The answer--oh, yeah!