Despite Multiple Rejections, I Keep Writing
My sister is a musician. We were a year apart in school, but I was light years away from her in talent. She played the trumpet and some piano, but her forte was singing. In 8th grade she wrote and performed a song for an end-of-year concert that brought the crowd to tears.
It should come as no surprise then, that by comparison, I didn’t consider myself blessed with any notable talent. I loved books and wrote A-worthy essays analyzing their meaning, but even with wordsmithing, I stayed clear of producing anything too creative. All the while, I’d capture my thoughts in a collection of journals, secrets meant just for me. But those recorded musings served me well when I decided to try my hand at writing a memoir.
It was both a desire to understand myself and a will to write that drove me (quite literally) to take a cross country trip by myself at the tender age of 28.
I ran away once.
June. 2002. Though I lived on my own, had no significant other, no children, and no responsibility to anyone other than myself, I still needed to run far, far away. What I was running from, I wasn’t quite sure. Perhaps it was reality, perhaps it was memory. Perhaps it was myself. Maybe it was a bit of all three.
Thus began my story, Finding My Way Home as well as my quest to write the perfect story—one with which another human being could connect and say, “I totally understand.”
When I returned home from my weeks on the road, I transcribed my recorded thoughts and had the makings of a first draft. Those pages collected dust for nearly six year, but they became my ‘thesis’ when in 2009, I enrolled in an MFA program. After I graduated in 2011, I took a few years to perfect my manuscript. Then in 2014, I was sure it was ready.
I wanted so badly to have my memoir published–to be a talented success like my musically inclined sister. Alas, every agent I queried either didn’t respond or offered a regretful decline. I gave myself a year to try to find an agent, and in that year I submitted to dozens of literary magazines and pinched pennies to enroll in writer’s workshops. All to no avail.
Getting published is hard work. After my 12-month deadline had passed, I self-published the memoir and continued to submit to Writer’s Digest and other contests. Fourteen friends and family members wrote reviews to help boost sales on Amazon. In total, I sold over 2,000 copies.
As disappointing as it was to not have traditional representation, I’ve since learned that the ‘traditional’ route isn’t always the best experience for authors either.
I’m now done with memoir number two and embarking on the same quest. Call me a glutton, but the craft does fill my soul. Again, I’ve given myself a timeline, and I’m also seeking guidance from industry influencers who understand the market (see and are helping me to both set and manage my expectations. More importantly, I’m challenging myself to explore different genres. Though it’s uncomfortable, it’s also exciting and playful.
Two questions that matter most for writers trying to get published: Why you? Why now? As you experiment with wordplay and consider sharing your story with others, let the answer to these questions shine through in your writing.