From Edie: Tim Suddeth reminds us that writers can’t be chosen if they never submit. Discover why taking chances, risking rejection, and redefining success are essential to the writing life.
You Can’t Be Chosen If You Never Submit: Taking Chances as a Writer
by Tim Suddeth @TimSuddeth
“I never win anything.” (Cue the violinist.)
Don’t we hear, and say, that a lot. It’s often an automatic response when we win a raffle or a contest. Or really anything. It’s part false humility and part not wanting to hurt others.
And for writers, isn’t that what we think as we enter our works into contests? I never win but I’ll send it in anyway.
My wife recently got a card in the mail from a local car dealership. I knew better. But I pulled the strip to see our number. And we won! $2500! It said.
I know. 99.997% sure it was fake. As I debated telling my wife before tossing it in the trash, I had a realization. I had two ways I could respond.
One, it’s too good to be true. Now, that is great advice and a good way to prevent scams and disappointments. But when I thought more about it, isn’t that a terrible way to live your life? So, I’m going to live like good things never happen to me?
Well, first, that’s a lie. Every day, great things happen to me, as well as downers.
And second, that’s not how I want to live. That’s like Pigpen in Peanuts, who walks around with a cloud over his head all day. He has become so used to it that it now defines him.
What would happen if one day he said enough, and swatted it away? Got a flyswatter, or a leaf blower, and blew it away. 2 Corinthians 10:5 tell us to take captive every thought. To slow down, focus on what is going on in our heads, and compare it to what God teaches us.
Are you going to be the person who carries the attitude that good things can never happen to you? That means that you’ll have to ignore all the good things and surprises you encounter every day. A smile from a stranger. An unexpected call with a friend (Did they call you? Did you call them? Does it matter?) Getting through three lights without having to stop (Or spilling your coffee.). If you believe that good things never happen to you, it requires you to refuse the joy that God sends your way and that you rename it as bad. That the things that could cause you to give praise to Our Father you intentionally refuse to accept.
And thinking that I’m a loser and I never win anything, is not how He thinks. Or wants us, who He calls His children, to think.
The second way I could have responded was to be open to the possibility of winning. That something good can happen to me (as unlikely as that was considering it was a mailer from a car dealership.) But I would never discover that I won if I didn’t respond.
To me, it wasn’t the prize that became important. (Although $2500 did get my attention.) It was which attitude would I choose. And it was, and is, a choice.
So, my wife, my son, and I piled into our car and drove forty-five minutes to the dealership where they had the large blow-up figures out front and music blaring. We waited as my wife went inside, came out to get her ID, and disappeared back inside.
We must have won. I’m deciding where we’re going to eat on the way home when my wife came back out.
With a clock. In a dented box so it was probably from a dented box sale. It does charge your phone.
But not $2500 worth.
Recently I submitted a short story to be considered for an anthology. Will I win? Will my story be accepted from the hundred other stories that will be submitted?
That has always been a huge step for me as a writer. Why should I submit since I’ll be competing with so many better writers? More experienced writers. Better qualified writers. How dare I think I can win against them?
There’s two things about that statement I have to question. First, what do I consider a win? For me, at this time in my writing journey, just finishing a story is a tremendous accomplishment. It has been a while since I’ve completed anything. My books are mired up, so completing the story and sending it in is a big milestone.
Did I meet the requirements? Yes. Did I do my best? Yes.
Then maybe they will accept my story. There are no guarantees and the odds are long.
But at least I’m in the running.
The other is that I often equate winning with how I stand compared to others. Sometimes a win isn’t so much how I compare to others as how I’ve grown or stretched myself. There’s usually more than one way to win. And more than one prize.
How about you? We all must face our fears when we write and let others read it. They may not like it. They often won’t understand how important it is to us.
But we do it anyway. Because there is someone out there who will get it. Who needs it. And sometimes we do it out of obedience, not knowing whether it will be successful or not.
But we know that if we don’t send it out. If we don’t send the query to the publisher or agent. Or we don’t send the article as requested. We may not be rejected. Again. But we also won’t be selected.
Now I’m not saying you should respond to all the flyers you get through the mail. Or answer the emails from your rich Nigerian uncle. But you shouldn’t have the attitude that good things can never happen to you. Because, one day… It may not be the Nobel Prize. Or a Christy. It may be your niece wanting you to read your story again. Or your Sunday School class asking you to write a new Bible study. Or getting that big award.
You’ll realize that all good things “come down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” (James 1:17) And He has many good things in mind for you. You just have to be open to receiving them.
And the clock will look great in my son’s room.
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