Happy Wall

In Stephen King’s book On Writing, he says that when he first started submitting stories to magazines he hammered a nail into his wall where he’d hang his rejection letters – until he had to replace the nail with a spike.

Apparently it’s a common practice among freelance writers to wallpaper their bathrooms with rejection letters.

I thought this was funny. I still think it’s funny. I keep meaning to start my own rejection wall, because, well, I need a bit more funny in my life.

But the other day I got a letter from an editor: “This is beautiful,” she said. “I couldn’t/wouldn’t change one word of it. Thank you.”

No – thank you, dear editor, for your heaping handful of encouragement.

I love to write. I’m grateful every single day for my job. But at times I tire of the hard knocks, especially after putting so much care and effort into my work. So I think instead of a rejection wall, I’ll focus on letters like the one mentioned above.

I’ll make a Happy Wall.

Best of luck to each and every one of your on your own professional endeavors as well. I’ll let you know when the essay is out. In the meantime, my piece Ready for a Step? is online at Seattle’s Conscious Choice magazine. And for anyone who loves numbers, click here for my latest What Counts? column.