Rejection. What writer has not gone through the unpleasant phenomenon of having your life’s work rejected by an editor as I did just today.
I have had all kinds of rejections concerning my writing. Some better than others, to be honest. I have received the printed form letter with no signature (before the advent of e-mail, that is). I have received the form letter with a one line written comment (which is priceless from the hand of a busy editor). I have had five rejections via e-mail sent in one day. I have also had a book contracted, the ms written, and still had it rejected and the contract nullified. And I have had my ms make it all the way to the publishing committee only to have one person out of the group say forget it and thus, the story rejected.
Yes, I felt like the cartoon – that I, along with my hard work, were cast into file 13. And I have had my interesting reactions too – from throwing away proposals in the garbage to refusing to write for three months, to sucking it in and getting back to work the same day the rejection came through. But this is really the time when I need to take stock in what has happened and ask God what to do and how to proceed. That His wisdom in infinitely better than anything I can come up with. On the outside it can look pretty hopeless when your ms has come back time and time again with the words NO on it. But with God there is always hope. And I have found that ms can be resurrected – perhaps in a different story idea or years later in a different form. God is the God of impossibility. What looks impossible on the outside is possible with Him and usually in ways we never anticipated.
Suffering the sting of rejection as I am today? Look up, not down! Though it may be dark now, the sun will still rise. And God is still in control of your writing destiny.