James 1:2-3 Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.
Off the mark. Rejection. Failure. These are words none of us want to hear. We don't want to be tempted, because we might fail. But failure is the only way that we can learn. We learn from our mistakes, not our successes.
As writers, we have to develop a "thick skin" when it comes to rejection. According to duotrope.com, my acceptance rate is higher than average, and yet, I get rejected about 60% of the time. More than half the work I submit gets rejected.
Luckily, most of the editors of magazines that I submit to give me some sort of explanation, so I learn from my mistakes. To keep from getting rejected, I have multiple critique partners and editors, which I learn from immensely.
Failure is a harsh teacher. But we have two options, we can accept our failures with joy and thankfulness for what we learn from them. Or we can crawl in a corner and let failure suck out our joy. What choice will you make?
really strikes me to read a book of yours now! thank you
ReplyDeleteI have learned far more from my failures than my successes. And some of those failures lead to something that I wouldn't have done, and I realized later I was in God's will the whole time.
ReplyDeleteFailures are the building blocks of character. Unless one knows how to fail with grace, they can never achieve true success. Those who have not known failure cannot testify to what they have overcome.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Ray W. Lincoln
xtianlifecoach(at)comcast(dot)net