Never Give Up Writing
By: Melissa Speed
Tags: Rejection, Writing, Success, Self, Poetry

The First Rejection

When I was twenty-one years old, I confidently entered a poetry competition with a poem I had written a few years earlier. My teacher had said how great and original it was. My family and friends had all loved it. It was a sure winner. Of course, what I’d failed to realise is that everyone who entered would be submitting great poems that had received great feedback. The sure winner didn’t even get shortlisted. My first taste of rejection. It hit hard.

Lying Dormant

I felt so defeated after that failure. I started to convince myself that those who had said they liked my poems were lying. I had been writing poems since childhood but suddenly I felt drained of the will to put pen to paper. I moved through my twenties without writing down the rhymes that flooded my mind.

Enter Inspiration

Life, as it so often does, started throwing inspiration at me, but not just that, it opened up the world of poetry to me once more as I began introducing poetry to my son. I had continued to enjoy the poetry of others but not as much as I had before I’d felt cast out. Rooky mistake. Poetry is not a club from which you can be excluded. It is your outlet and your solace. Reading the works of others will nurture your own creativity, plus, it’s food for the soul.

The Power of Social Media

Ah, social media. Where would we be without it? Suddenly I saw that there were people putting their poems out there. Writers whose poems became something to look forward to, like the brilliant Kevin Heads, who not only inspired me but also my son to put pen to paper, and share it with others.

Enter Medium

I soon noticed that Kevin and other writers I admired were publishing their work on Medium. I decided to look into it and give it a go myself. The rollercoaster began.

Ups and Downs

First I felt elated — people were reading my work! More than that, they were clapping, highlighting, and responding to it! Then I received the email that one of my poems had been curated! I felt on top of the world, but it wouldn’t last. The poems I felt were my best works were being rejected for curation. I couldn’t understand it and started obsessing over stats, reading curation guidelines, and articles promising to unlock the key to Medium success.

Undeterred, one article led me to submit my work to magazines via submittable. Oh no, more rejection. Thankfully, I have developed some resilience since my first taste of it all those years ago. I remembered that I write poetry because the words come to me, and I share it because some people might enjoy reading it. It’s easy to get lost in the quest for success, a journey I’d not intended taking, not this time.

Then success came knocking my door. We each measure success in our own ways. For some, it’s acceptance from the writing community, for some, it’s measured in Medium stats; the list of ways it can be measured and interpreted goes on. For me, it came in the form of a competition, the very thing that had put a stopper on my creativity all those years ago.

Facing the Fear

I bit the bullet and entered a competition, this time with no self-assuredness or expectations. I came across it accidentally whilst looking for poetry with my son — Kids Poetry Club, a poetry podcast and website, was running a poetry competition, but adults could enter too. Tasked with writing a poem for children on the theme of Spring, armed with my pencil and inspiration outside my window, I set to it. Before I knew it I’d entered! First came the shortlisting, then the news that I was a finalist, and then that wonderful moment when I learned I had actually won! I realise now that my success was not winning the competition, but entering it; I had faced my fear. My success was not winning but entering, accepting that not winning was a probability yet not letting that possibility stop me.

Never Give Up

I stopped worrying about winning and being judged to be good by others and remembered the joy of writing.

Never give up writing if writing is what you do. If you enjoy it or if it helps you express yourself, forget about those stats and let yourself get lost in your words and the words of others.