I'm putting to bed the last blog post of the year with some good news. I'm starting my job at the Edmonton Public Library next week and I can't wait to see the diverse writing talent that the city has to offer. I remember starting off as a writer some 20 years ago. I think for the first year I was full of self-loathing for having picked writing as a career. Or at least that's how my stack of rejection letters made me feel. All the torment faded away with my first acceptance letter. I had won an essay writing contest for a university paper which was about the aftermath of my failed year as an engineering student. I guess some good came out of my failure.
Now as I look back on my career, I think about what would have happened if I gave up after the first rejection letter. Or after the 15th rejection letter. I'm glad I never quit, even in the dark days when I thought about starting over as the engineer my parents always wanted. In some ways, I owe my writing career not to any degree of talent, but to a stubbornness to forge ahead when everyone else told me to stop. I continued to write, revise and polish my manuscripts, and I kept sending them out.
Today, I still get my fair share of rejections, but I feel like writing is more like fishing. Sooner or later, someone's going to bite. And if they don't, I can always tell the story of the big one that got away.
Happy New Year.
I am sure you will be a great asset to the EPL with your residency. If at least one hopeful comes away with the confidence to face down those rejection letters then you will have exceeded in your role. Just think of all the young people who will meet a "real live" writer and be inspired to jot down those first few lines.
Have a great new year with the EPL!
Thanks. If you come across any budding writers, please send them my way. Happy holidays.