High Hopes, But Low Expectations

So I was disappointed when I discovered I was not a finalist in the funny writing contest I entered last week. High hopes but low expectations is how I typically go into these kinds of things, but once and a while I’d like to see my optimistic pessimism disappointed.

Still, in trying to make lemonade out of the lemons here, I realize this: Lots of other opportunity out there. Yeah, lots of other opportunity for me to fail or be passed over out there, but you know, it only takes one success to make it all worthwhile. Well, most of it worthwhile.

Here’s the thing: I’m not dim enough to believe that my writing style is so unique and special that there isn’t anyone out there worthy of understanding what I write and why I write it the way I do. But I’m also not dim enough to believe that the one opportunity I find to thrust my writing in front of a professional’s face and failing means that my writing isn’t worth reading. It just didn’t work for that particular professional.

So, to quote Alan Murray in this whole mess, “It’s time for me to find another giant.” Not that I’ll stop visiting this particular professional’s blog. It’s still a great place for writers to go. I’ll just broaden my horizons a bit and find someone who is more interested in the kinds of things I’m interested in writing. That’s part of the game in the publishing business, that I know for sure.