I woke up bright and early, went to the gym, came home and got a start on my workday (checking e-mail is something I can do while my kids get ready for school). The first thing I opened was a rejection to one of the queries I sent last week. At least it was a quick response, and really, a rejection is a great way to start the day. It’s a) affirming—you can only be rejected when you’re actually submitting, and b) inspiring—every rejection fuels the motivation to receive an acceptance.

If there was a downside to this one, it was that it was the worst kind of chastisement. You know how I mentioned in my last post that I sent queries I’d been sitting on too long? The rejection read, in part, that it was “a good idea, but that they were already working on something similar.” The same thing happened last year re: a gym article I wanted to write.

The moral of the story? Writers should abide by the rule I’ve heard applies to patenting ideas—from the time you get your idea, you have three months maximum to flesh it out and patent it, because if you take any longer than that, whatever combination of things—overheard conversation at Safeway, article browsed through at the Dr’s office, television ad campaign—that caused you to get the idea, will have done the same (or too similar) in someone else’s head. Don’t sit on your ideas and stories! Write them—or write of them—and send them out. It’s one thing to be told your idea stinks, it’s another to be told, “Oh, if only you’d sent it a bit sooner….”

I think I will scrawl that last bit on a sticky note and add it to my “Note to self” wall.

Have a great day!

~Ev