Pushing

During the concussion, I've had a lot of time to think. (This is only day three, and I'm feeling a lot better, if you were wondering.)

When I was 16, I smashed my knee in pretty bad. I remember falling, getting back up, and riding the rest of the night. When I got off the hill and went inside my knee was the size of a soccer ball. My roommate had to help change my pants, and take off my socks. In the morning (because I'm an idiot), she also had to redress me. I went out that day and continued riding.

Two months later, I tried to run...made it less then 400 meters, and had to stop. I went in, told my mom to take me to the doctor. Her response, "I was just waiting for you to tell me when." In another month or so, I got my first surgery. It was found that:

*I had more scar tissue than any other patient

*I had a partially torn ACL

But I continued snowboarding. And after this concussion, I'll continue to snowboard. Why?

Because I love it. Because falling is a part of the sport, and you have to get back up, and keep going.

This picture is me getting ready to hit a jump. Yay!

Writing is a lot like that. We're all healthy and happy and nervous when we start submitting, right? And then we get rejected.

And rejected.

And rejected.

And at some point it starts to feel like a concussion, or like we can't walk all that well anymore. Maybe we need a trip to the doctor (revising your story/query/synopsis), maybe we just need to prop our legs, our head, up (take a break), or maybe we need to get a brace that we wear for a bit (know that you have something written, but start a new project and go back later).

Bottom line: PUSH through all of this. Rejection, like a concussion, hurts. But if you love it, if you love your characters and think they deserve to be heard, keep pushing, keep editing, don't give up. Get back on your board (or your computer) and keep going.

All injuries heal, and some day, you'll be rocking your way down the mountain.