Leave No Leaf Unshorn

I’m on track to score my 100 rejections this year.

Today’s rejected piece has become the bonsai tree of my writing career. I’ve trimmed and shaped it, stood back with my scissors, cocked my head, watched the light reflecting at different times of the day, whispered to its tiny branches – flower! And when it is blooming again, and not before, I send it somewhere new.

“We’re going to take a pass.” Like it was too much dessert after a really big dinner. It’s such a nice phrase if you think about it. Someone taking a pass is doing that for their own reasons not because anything is wrong with what they’re being offered. Maybe they ate too much turkey. I can’t be responsible for their gluttony. They’d have room for me had they been more circumspect. No. I know. They aren’t full, they’re just kind and gently-spoken.

“It’s not quite the right fit for us.” I like that one, too, because it implies that some other place will be the right fit. It’s just a matter of searching. Hence the 100 rejections. Although one does wonder if the same piece is rejected 100 times, ought one look for opportunity 101 or throw the bonsai tree in the trash?

I refuse to be discouraged. If it was easy, everyone would be published. And we’d be drowning in the drivel editors hadn’t the wisdom to take a pass on. Obviously, they saw a tiny leaf leaning out of place in my piece that ruined everything.

I just need to sharpen my scissors and find it.

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Photo by Davide Cantelli on Unsplash