Acceptance, both real and imagined
A little under two weeks ago, I wrote about rejection. Mostly around a rejection notice for a short story I’d received the day before. The real theme of the post, I suppose, was to accept rejection, learn from it, and move on. To not be defined by it.
Looking back on that now as a wiser, two-week-older person, I think that what I was trying to remind myself1 was that the presence of a rejection letter in my writing life doesn’t, in any way, change my writing ability from one moment to the next. How I react to the letter can, but the letter itself doesn’t magically change my ability to write.
The same should be true of acceptance.
Not an easy lesson to learn, but I think I have in the last two weeks. I’ve kept on writing, learned a lesson or two and generally am back on track.
So imagine my surprise when acceptance came so quickly on the heels of rejection.
It was Sunday morning. I was just getting up from the dining room table when I saw this tweet on my phone:
“sometimes I read something and it just gets me right in the gut. @TheSatch is an awesome writer.” – Trula on Twitter
@TheSatch is my username on Twitter.
Now this made me feel pretty good. Partly because I, like all of us, don’t mind a compliment every now and again. But it also felt pretty good because of what it meant. More on that in a moment…
I took my phone into the bathroom where Sarah was brushing her teeth and held the phone up in front of her face so that she could read the tweet as well. Probably jarring to have a cell phone shoved in your face minutes after waking up, but Sarah was really excited. She’s my first-round editor after all.
After I shared the tweet with Sarah, I walked into the office and sat down at the computer, suspecting I might find a related email.
And I did. Also from Trula, the email informed me that my Short Story, “A Person of No Consequence,” has been accepted for publication in an upcoming anthology.
I was speechless. Well, maybe not. I think I was just grinning like a kid and saying wow to Sarah over and over again.
What can I say? I was, and still am, really, really excited.
I’m going to have a story published. And if it isn’t obvious by my reaction, this will be my first published short story…
That feels pretty cool.
What adds to the coolness of it is that this is the very story I was referring to in my last post when I mentioned that after reading it, Sarah said, “I can really tell that you’re becoming a better writer.”
What’s more, this story was an exercise in doing something new and different. Let me explain:
Trula Breckenridge is an indie writer that I’ve been following on Twitter for a while now. Several weeks ago, Trula mentioned that she was putting together a Sci-FI anthology. Intrigued, I took a look at the link she shared and saw that the theme of the anthology was “Futuristic Motherhood.” Basically, a book of speculative stories about motherhood. Culture, technology, etc.
I’ve never been an advocate of the “write what you know” adage, but this was a challenge beyond any story I’d written so far.
For one thing, I am not, nor will I ever be, a mother.
What’s more, Sarah and I don’t have any kids… yet.2
And yet I came up with an idea minutes later about a young couple dealing with a pre-parenting decision 100 years from now. It was fun, challenging, different (my first sci-fi story) and exciting.
And apparently, it was a decent story.
So, the book will be released in August and I expect everyone reading this to buy a copy. It would be cool to support this project and indie publishing in general, but I would love it if you’d read my story (and all the others of course) and let me know what you think about it. Mark, you said yourself that life is to short for anything but good sci-fi and fantasy, so I certainly hope you’ll check the book out. 
If you want to pre-order, go here now. It’s a steal at $10.
Otherwise, I’ll remind you. Often.
So here’s to acceptance. And to allowing success to have the same positive impact that rejection does. That is, just like rejection, not allowing success to distort the lives we lead.
- Brandon
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April 21st, 2008 at 8:43 am
Hey! Three cheers for new media! Three more cheers for indie media! Looking forward to reading the story. Thanks for sharing your ups and downs here on the blog, where a lot of us already consider you “published.”
April 21st, 2008 at 9:48 am
Congratulations, Brandon!
I look forward to reading your story. I don’t get the time to read much these days and I miss it. I used to love scifi/fantasy. I’m TheRainKing on twitter. I follow you and Trula. She is an awesome individual. She has high standards and her decision to include your story says much about your writing.
Peace.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:41 am
Congrats!
April 21st, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Acceptance following rejection. Yup. And then it happens vice versa all over again. Which is just to say this writing life is for people who like roller coasters. : )
CONGRATULATIONS!!
Btw, I went to the conference last week. I’m just reliving it this week by sharing it with my blog friends. Gotta find little ways to approach re-entry.
April 21st, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Congrats Brandon! So excited for you. I will definitely purchase a copy when it comes out. We miss you and Sarah. Hopefully we’ll see you soon!
April 21st, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Good for you- not only for getting something published, but for learning gracefully from your experiences beforehand as well.
It’s all downhill from here!
April 21st, 2008 at 9:34 pm
One of my teachers, Prof. Howard Hendricks, said, “The key to good writing is a box full of rejection slips.” Congrats on publishing your first piece. Persistence matters.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:04 am
Jeff, I suspected you’d like the new media and indie angle here.
Thanks so much for the kind words, they mean a lot. Have a great trip and have fun presenting at the Dove Awards!
Tim, Nice to meet you. Thanks for stopping by and for your kind words. I look forward to hearing your thoughts about the story. And, I agree. Trula is a cool gal. A real positive and encouraging presense on Twitter, which is a wonderful thing.
Heather, Thanks! And welcome back from your cruise!
LL, What?!? No one told me about this roller coaster?
I think part of the reason God has called me to write is therapeutic in nature. Meaning, ride the roller coaster until I learn to properly position where I draw my significance and encouragement from. Thanks for the congrats. And welcome back to you too. I left my “I should pay more attention” comment on your blog. 
Jenifer, Thanks! I look forward to hearing what you and Nick think about the story. And I hope we can see you all soon as well. What are the current holiday plans?
Sarah, Thanks so much! I appreciate that you took the time to read and comment.
Ben, Professor Hendricks is right. I think that we are most naturally driven to improve when the wall of rejection sits before us. I take it as a challenge then, to also look at success as a wall, because I would imagine that too much of it (I don’t know this for fact, of course) can be toxic if it leads us to believe that there’s nothing left to learn.
Thanks again for reconnecting, Ben. I look forward to keeping up with your blog, your journeys and talking more about writing with you in the future.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:59 pm
That is really cool Brandon, congrats!
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:34 am
Add my congratulations to the aforementioned. That’s awesome, man! And just think, 2 weeks from now you’ll be 4 weeks wiser than you were 2 weeks ago. Things are really looking up!
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Jim, Thanks!
Russ, Thanks to you as well. And you would think that would be true, but don’t count on it… it’s possible that I might regress.
June 13th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Great news! Especially on the heels of rejection. I’ve learned over my rejections, that though I don’t think it affects me much, if REALLY does, at least for a couple of hours. I’ve learned right after a rejection, it’s better to lock myself in my room and deal with the emotions, than try to brush it off. When I do try and brush it off, my family seems to pay the price, not intentionally on my part, but I’ve noticed my attitude gets really snappy. I’m currently waiting to hear back from an agent. If that reject comes, I sure hope I remember my advice!
June 17th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Gina, Thanks for the visit and the comment. That really is good advice. I can see how suppression of those emotions will leak out through fissures and impact those around us. Taking the time to deal and move on is a good tactic.
Good luck with the agent! I hope acceptance comes!
April 13th, 2009 at 5:49 am
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