Acceptance and Rejectance (I know it's not a real word, but I think it should be.)

Acceptance is such a great word.

When I was little and I was able to make friends with other kids, I felt accepted.

I was thrilled when I got accepted to the Oxford Honors Program where I spent a semester in college.

When my husband proposed to me, he was excited that I accepted.

When The Kern Valley Sun, Concise Delight, and Midnight Screaming accepted my writing, I felt like I could really make it as a writer!

When I get accepted by anything or anyone, it makes me feel like I'm worthwhile- it's like another person patting you on the back, saying, "You're good enough...you're good enough."

The hard thing about acceptance is that it is someone else's to give or recieve. You can't control their decisions.

If other kids teased me or refused to play with me, I felt rejected.

I applied for a lot of scholarships before college, and although I did get quite a few, it sure hurt to get rejected.

However, rejection is a part of life. More people will reject me than will accept me. But that's okay. I don't need everyone to accept me. In fact, I really only need a few people and a few publishers to accept me or my work.

When I post a poem or a short story on this blog and say, "proudly rejected by..." I'm not kidding. I'm not trying to get a magazine or a publisher back in some way. I really am proud. I'm not proud that I was rejected, but I am proud that I tried. Someone who fails to climb a mountain is not a mountain climber, but they're still better than the guy who never even tried.

All of that to say- Just keep writing, Just keep writing, Just keep writing, writing, writing!

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