Allison Symes’s books on Goodreads
Alternative Renditions: Some Other Sides Of Well Known Fairy Stories
Facebook – General and More Than Writers (ACW) Blog
I write monthly on the Association of ChristianWriters’ blog More Than Writers. I also give a quick round-up of recent happenings, including good news on the dog ownership front.
My latest More than Writers post (Association of Christian Writers blog) is about God’s timing for our lives. This is the only piece to date inspired by the perfect (comedic) timing of Morecambe and Wise! (In particular, their Andre Preview sketch, my favourite comic piece. The Two Ronnies Four Candles comes in at second spot for me).
Glad to say the Book Fair in Chandler’s Ford went well.
Went to see local theatre group, The Chameleons, perform a murder mystery spoof called Murdered to Death. (Writer: Peter Gordon). Hope to review this in due course but it was very funny.
Met our soon-to-be adopted dog, Lady, again today. Lovely dog. This year has been a sad year personally, a great year professionally, but it is nice to have some good news. Hope is to have Lady well settled in long before Christmas. Like my previous dogs, Gracie and Mabel, Lady is a rescue, a down on her luck collie. With love, good exercise, a sense of security, Lady should blossom and thrive as her predecessors did. I’ve found I have to have a routine of some sort to get any writing done. A routine benefits dogs too. It can give a sense of security (really useful especially when you are settling in a rescue dog).
Part of my Book Fair stand (from behind the table!). Image by Allison Symes
Getting set up ready for the Book Fair. Image by Allison Symes
Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again
What is the best way of handling rejections?
I’ve found accepting it is never personal helps a lot. Also, it can be consoling to know that sometimes the work is fine, but there are other reasons for the rejection. For example, the publication has had something similar which it has already accepted, which will inevitably mean yours gets turned down, Nothing to stop you from submitting that piece to another suitable publication though.
Another thing that has helped me is knowing now (which I didn’t when starting out) that all writers go through this., It really isn’t just you as the individual writer! But over time, as you learn to improve what you do, the rejections slowly turn into more and more acceptances.
I’ve lost count (long ago) of how many pieces I’ve had turned down but some of them I’ve reworked later and then had them published. I nearly always opt for feedback where a competition offers it (unless the fee is prohibitive, though I have only known this happen once or twice as most fees are set at reasonable rates). All feedback I’ve had to date has shown me something useful that, on reading it, I think “why didn’t I think of that before submitting this?” but this is where you do need a second pair of eyes to look at what you’ve written.
Sound advice always. Image via Pixabay
Never give up, work hard, be disciplined… all valuable traits for success, whether you’re a tennis player, a writer or a character in a story! Image via Pixabay.
Allison Symes: Collected Works 