File it in "Reject City"
When I first married my husband Ed 20 years ago, we set out to make over his small bachelor lake cottage into a home that would accommodate me and all my things too. As I was rearranging his bookcase, I came across a beat-up red binder labeled "Reject City." When I asked him about it, Ed explained that the notebook contained the many letters of rejection he'd received from publishers to whom he'd submitted his creative efforts-music, software products and even his textbook now in its third edition. Like the high school seniors above, he'd made a ritual about it--file the letters and move on.
Not dwelling on rejection is a major key to success. Ed and I met through an educational software product he created in 1983. Twenty or so publishers had rejected it by the time the company I worked for decided it was worth publishing. One for the Books was chosen runner up to the best language arts software product of the year in 1988-we lost out to IBM. Not bad after 20+ rebuffs, all of which were filed in Reject City.
Ask Yourself "What's Next?"
Julia Cameron, the author of The Artist's Way and prolific writer, says she has learned when hit by the loss caused by rejection to ask herself "What's next?" instead of "Why Me?" She suggests immediately taking one small action to support your creative self, even if it's only buying yourself a bunch of tulips and a new sketch pad. Action in the direction of our dreams keeps us from being paralyzed by our disappointment. To quote Julia, "As a rule of thumb, it is best to just admit that there is always one action you can take for your creativity daily."
Don't "Put it Out There" - Make it Available!
My marketing clients often tell me they're afraid to "put themselves out there." With that languaging, I understand why. "Putting myself out there" makes me feel very vulnerable--like I'm somehow waiting for the executioner to show up, perhaps even in my underwear. Ever have those dreams?
Instead of thinking that I'm putting myself out there to wait for rejection, I've learned instead to think of it as "making myself available." I have valuable things to help other people, and I am simply making them available. By changing my mindset about this, I've moved from a position of vulnerability to a position of being in service to others. Believe me, that's much less scary. This same philosophy holds true for creative projects. Make yourself and your creative ideas available!
It may not be rejection--it may just be timing.
Sometimes creative dreams need a long incubation. Ed and his best friend, Ray George, were in a rock band in college. When the band broke up, Ed and Ray continued to write and record music calling themselves The George-Edwards Group. In 1978 they made an album they titled 38:38 (the record was 38 minutes and 38 seconds long). They pressed 200 copies of the record (all they could afford) and Ed sent about 50 out to radio stations, agents and other potential promoters. They heard almost nothing back--most people didn't even bother to write letters of rejection. Eventually Ed put the old master tapes and the remainder of the records in storage.
Fast forward 30 years. In the fall of 2007, Ed got an email from someone in Austin, Texas. Was Ed the Edward Balian from The George-Edwards Group? Their music was being played on an Austin station. In fact, they were getting airplay on several stations across the country and great reviews on websites they didn't even know existed. After much painstaking work, the original album has now been re-mastered, and the guys have a recording contract with Drag City, a Chicago company that publishes in vinyl--yes, records are still made! The release date for the new 38:38 is set for April 14, 2009, it's being pre-sold by outlets in the U.S. and Europe and the first pressing has already sold out. It's an overnight success that took 30 years.
Hear the music...
Timing is everything--never give up on your dreams!
