When I first saw this cartoon, I laughed and said, 'yeah, that's what I want!' I sent it around to friends that I knew would get a grin out of it too.
It was so cute, I posted it where I could see it often. But it's given me pause more than once. When I read the whining of a would-be writer who hasn't paid their dues yet...we all know what the dues are. Many, many hours of writing, the same number of hours editing and rewriting and then many, many, many rejection letters. I lose patience with whining over one rejection letter. Or two. Or two dozen. I really don't know when whining is allowed. Maybe when we've paid dues several times over.
And even then, only to the dearest and closest of sisters or friends.
I won't lie and say I've never whined. I have. But not much. By the time I decided to try my hand at writing, something I'd always wanted to do, I had already learned about rejection. I knew what to expect. Years of oil painting taught me about rejection.
Painting and writing travel the same bumpy road. Every snag, each twist and turn is paralleled in the these two difficult crafts. I chose to love both. Or they chose me.
Whatever I do, I do it not just for the monetary, but simply because I love doing it. That is the buffer to rejection. When you love what you're doing, the joy of the doing is greater than the pain of rejection.
Back to the cartoon. Do whatever you do for the love of doing it... never tire of learning and growing. And you'll be happier with whatever follows.
Have a great day!
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