My sister was by the other day to leave off some things for the garage sale. While she was here she told me about a program she had watched about Led Zeppelin. She said Jimmy Page had joined the band after failing to "make the grade" for another. They said he couldn't sing.
I remember an interview I saw with Agnes Moorehead. She said that when she had auditioned for a part she was told she would never make it in Hollywood. She had a funny nose. She left. Dispirited. Then she got angry and marched back and said there was nothing wrong with her nose. She got a part and became an emmy winning actress.
The Beatles were rejected the first time they tried to get signed by a studio.
These are some of the more famous instances, in which people who were rejected for this reason for that later reached the top. There are even more cases of people who were rejected who later succeeded, but didn't necessarily reach the top. But they made it.
Ultimately, whether one has succeeded or failed is up to one's own interpretation of their goals. When I worked for a newspaper I knew a team of gymnasts who's goal for the year was to win the conference. Their school had never done it. They worked and worked and worked, facing the long-time conference champion in their final meet. They won. When they entered tournament play they were ousted fairly quickly. Some looked upon this as failure. But they had achieved their goal. When the season began they had not aimed for the tournament championship. They aimed for the conference championship. And they got it.
That's success.
These things hold true in writing, too. How many tales are there of this author or that being rejected fifty, one hundred, two hundred times, and then seeing their work become a masterpiece? Sometimes, I think success is simply not giving up. If one's still in the game, one hasn't lost. That one cannot say one has won means nothing. The game goes on.
So it is with my writing. I write. And I search for places to submit. One day, I'll win.
Meanwhile, I haven't lost yet.
Sailors on the Sea
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
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2 comments:
If success is simply not giving up. then there's no reason for you to lose at all.
Not really, although I think I worded myself badly. Losing happens when one gives up. Not giving up simply means success is still possible. Trying is not winning, but giving up is certainly losing.
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