Celebrating Rejection

Image © Lori Gravley, 2016.

Yesterday, I celebrated my 245th rejection of the year. I'm a poet, and I count individual poems rejected, but over 40 of these rejections are from agents whom I've sent a number of projects this year--Wish You Were Here, Knowing, Banjo Picking Girl, and The Fisherman and the Whale to name a few.

But yesterday's rejection was the best yet, so I'm hoping that means I'm getting closer. It included such things as . . . "This is truly a lovely text" and "You're a great writer and I'm happy to read this." It also included some advice on how to improve the text.

I'm celebrating all my rejections this year, all 245 of them, and thinking about my goals for next year. I hope you're finding some time at the end of this year to celebrate your creative self and all you've accomplished this year. See you in 2017.

Writing Prompt Wednesday: Goals

Image © Lori Gravley, Grayton Beach, FL, 2015

SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound.  I don't make resolutions, but I'm always setting goals.  Now might be a good time to think of your own goals, write your mission statment, decide what you'd like this year to bring.  What we attend to grows.  I hope I've helped you grow your writing practice this year with my writing prompts.  What will you do next year?

Writing Prompt Wednesday: Stop Here to Pray

Image © Lori Gravley, Murano, Italy, 2016

See the little coin left in front of the icon (the Virgin Mary and Jesus surrounded by angels).  Imagine the person who left the coin. Before, after, during the leaving: choose one.

Writing Prompt Wednesday: Shoot

Image © Lori Gravley, Bangkok, Thailand, 2013

Writing Prompt Wednesdays: Door to the Sea

Image © Lori Gravley, Cape Coast Castle, Ghana, 2016

The Tribe Abides

Okay, PowerByPineappleJuice isn't a part of our weekly tribe, but someone needed to fill in that fourth slot.  

For over six years, I've been writing with a group of women on Sunday mornings from 7ish to 10:30ish every Sunday I'm in town.  We come and go, so we aren't always at our regular table at the Underdog Cafe and Emporium, but most weeks, one of us is there, laptop open, working away on our words.  

Sometimes we read each other's work (during the week, never on Sunday morning, that's writing time), but more often we're just there to share the trials, tribulations, joys, and celebrations of this writing journey.

This year, for half the month of NaNo November, I was traveling, but I got to check in with my tribe through our NaNo buddies page.  And I tried to sit down and write when it was time to write, even when 7 AM Ohio time was 3 PM Nairobi time, 1 PM Cairo time.

I talk to one member of my tribe almost daily, the other members of my tribe, I email weekly or check in on Facebook or Instagram.  And writing together (and apart) is a powerful motivator.  We all won NaNo this year, and I'm certain part of that is the support both active and passive, that we give each other in our writing throughout the year and throughout the month.

So, build your tribe. You don't need to write the same things.  You don't need to be critique partners, but you will support each other, encourage each other, compete (nicely) with each other, and you will all grow as writers.

I celebrate my tribe, the Wrimettes, and I'm so thankful to have them as part of my life.  I wish you luck in finding (or celebrating) yours.