This is an actual picture of my shoe getting stuck in the mud when I was hiking the Appalachian Trail back in 2007. It reminded me of my hike last weekend – of which I had on the wrong shoes to do a fairly strenuous hike and ended up suffering for it (and having to leave the trail early). To this day – nearly a week later, I still have a toenail that remains red and painful. I wish I could go back and listen to that still, quiet voice that told me to check my shoes, insoles, and wear the right socks. I could have avoided lots of problems and finished my goal.
Sometimes we like to take shortcuts with our writing or other work we do. We don’t take the time to make sure it’s the best it can be but rush off, thinking it will do, that it’s adequate enough. Like if deadlines loom or in trying to put together a proposal quick and get it sent off. But we can suffer for our haste. We can end up with the ugly red form of rejection because we didn’t take the time to construct, polish and edit our work thoroughly so it’s the best it can be. It’s so easy to try and take shortcuts. Not to give it our all in our work. But it’s liable to come back at us and make us suffer for it afterwards. But we can be wiser for it in the lessons learned. I know I will be the next time I hit the trail. I’ll be wearing new shoes, good insoles and padded socks. And carry plenty of Bandaids and duct tape to work with my already injured feet. So, too, we can bring new life to our work and resubmit elsewhere. But take the time to do it the right way, and you may find a contract waiting for you instead.
Oh, so true. I'm facing this problem with a manuscript that I finished a little too quickly. The "honest" people in my life told me I could do better.