The above is "A Writer's Journey," as drawn by cartoonist Stephan Pastis. The guy nailed it, capturing the supreme disappointment that comes when you learn that no one's interested in reading/publishing/representing/buying the results of your hard, hard work.
Staying positive when the world says "meh" isn't easy, at least not for me. When it comes to the "glass half empty or half full" question, I'm somewhere in the middle, preferring to say, "The water's at the halfway mark." I have bouts of optimism and confidence, but when pummeled I'm more likely to crawl under a blanket or, as in the cartoon, into a bottle until I get my next burst of self-belief.
Some more secure people don't go through this cycle. They are sure that the world is just wrong not to recognize their talents, and they proceed with confidence, even arrogance.
Those people annoy the hell out of me.
It's not that I envy their thick skin, although I admit that I do. It's that they often simply don't acknowledge reality.
I once applied for a job with an advertising start-up that was trying to get a piece of the pie as cable networks were ascending. I listened carefully to the plan, then asked, "What if it doesn't work out that way? What if it fails?"
The answer: "It won't fail."
I left the interview fairly sure that I didn't want to work for someone so confident that he had no contingency plan. (And guess what? It did fail.)
So, no. I don't want to be that person. I don't want to trash the world when it says "meh." I'll just stay and live with my insecurities, waiting for the next boost to send me into full-glass thinking again.
Yeah, fill up that glass.
Staying positive when the world says "meh" isn't easy, at least not for me. When it comes to the "glass half empty or half full" question, I'm somewhere in the middle, preferring to say, "The water's at the halfway mark." I have bouts of optimism and confidence, but when pummeled I'm more likely to crawl under a blanket or, as in the cartoon, into a bottle until I get my next burst of self-belief.
Some more secure people don't go through this cycle. They are sure that the world is just wrong not to recognize their talents, and they proceed with confidence, even arrogance.
Those people annoy the hell out of me.
It's not that I envy their thick skin, although I admit that I do. It's that they often simply don't acknowledge reality.
I once applied for a job with an advertising start-up that was trying to get a piece of the pie as cable networks were ascending. I listened carefully to the plan, then asked, "What if it doesn't work out that way? What if it fails?"
The answer: "It won't fail."
I left the interview fairly sure that I didn't want to work for someone so confident that he had no contingency plan. (And guess what? It did fail.)
So, no. I don't want to be that person. I don't want to trash the world when it says "meh." I'll just stay and live with my insecurities, waiting for the next boost to send me into full-glass thinking again.
Yeah, fill up that glass.
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