Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. ~ Thomas A. Edison

To me, writing is like putting a piece of myself on paper.  No matter how serious or silly the topic or my writing is, it still represents a piece of me.  Writing has gotten me through many sad days, bad days, and overwhelming days. Writing has become a way for me to celebrate my successes and a way for me to try out new things.

I have been fortunate because most people who read what I write enjoy it.  Part of me knows that I should not place that much value on what people think about my writing, but I do.  Today, I got a glimpse of a less than favorable review of my writing.  It hurt.  It really made me question what I am doing, spending all the time that I do on my writing.

It has been a day of reflection, and building myself back up.  I LET someone’s words discourage me.  I almost ALLOWED another person’s opinion to cause me to throw in the towel.  One thing that came to mind while I was thinking about what happened is that there are plenty of famous people in history who were told they were not “good enough”.

Thomas Edison – His teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.” As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

Walt Disney – He was fired by a newspaper editor because “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. In fact, the proposed park was rejected by the city of Anaheim on the grounds that it would only attract riffraff.

Charles Schultz – He had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff. Oh, and Walt Disney wouldn’t hire him.

Fred Astaire – After his first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM, dated 1933, read, “Can’t act. Can’t sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” He kept that memo over the fire place in his Beverly Hills home. Astaire once observed that “when you’re experimenting, you have to try so many things before you choose what you want, that you may go days getting nothing but exhaustion.” And here is the reward for perseverance: “The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it’s considered to be your style.”

Sidney Poitier – After his first audition, he was told by the casting director, “Why don’t you stop wasting people’s time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?” It was at that moment, recalls Poitier, that he decided to devote his life to acting.

Louisa May Alcott – Author of Little Women, was encouraged to find work as a servant by her family.

Jack London – received six hundred rejection slips before he sold his first story.

Dr. Seuss – 27 publishers rejected his first book, To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.

I know that there will be more not so flattering reviews of my writing in the future.  If I am going to continue to make my work public – which I intend to – then I need to get used to it.  That does not mean that it will not hurt, it just means I need to learn how to roll with the punches.  Instead of seeing what is said as a negative, maybe I should see it as a challenge.