Article Self-Publishing Announcement & Writing Rejection Advice from the #WritingCommunity

Hello Star Tugs!

Happy Saturday. I hope you all are doing well. I have a few announcements I'd like to make regarding the blog. 

Article Self-Publishing On the Blog

So as you might have seen in earlier posts (if you're new here and don't know what I'm talking about, hello! Glad to have you here today) I've been trying to publish two train-related articles I wrote a while back. The articles are The Future of the ITM and Keeping Up with the Newbuilds. The first year anniversary is coming up for The Future of the ITM, I'm not sure of the exact date, I know it was around July 12, 2018 (for all I know it could've been today!) 

I'm disappointed I wasn't able to get them published elsewhere, and I'm growing concerned that if I wait longer, the articles will lose relevance. So, I have decided to self publish the articles on here, for you to enjoy. Because I was given permission to use photos from different organizations in Keeping Up with the Newbuilds, I reached out to them again to ensure it's still all right. Once I get the okay from every organization, I will publish the article on here. 

The Future of the ITM may appear on here soon, but since I just wrote a train related blog post discussing Mallard, the world's fastest steam locomotive (you can find it below this post, if you're interested), I might want to space it out. 

I held a poll on my Twitter asking if people were interested in seeing the train articles on here. I got a 50-50 split (thank you for my large response, to you two voters 😜, seriously though thanks for the feedback) so I know it's not everyone's cup of tea. 

If trains aren't your thing, please bare with me. I promise this blog won't become 100% train related, if you're here for the writing. I will try and balance out my two big loves for trains and writing. 

I should mention that when I publish the articles I won't include my normal beginning of "Hello Tuggers," or my ending line "Keeeeeep Tuggin!" to keep these professional. 

All right, onto the next topic. 

#WritingCommunity Rejection Advice 

I wrote a blog post a while ago discussing rejection, and I'd like to go back to that (mostly because I forgot I wrote it when I called for the advice. #Woops 😜) Rejection is something that I don't think you get used to until you get stuff published, and even then it's not going to go away. All writers, including previously published ones, are going to get rejected. Rejections can be frustrating. You've put so much passion into a piece of work, and then you're told someone doesn't want it. 

I know I still struggle with rejections. Sometimes I take it too personal and attach myself too much to the writing. If the writing is rejected, I personally feel rejected. I'd advise upcoming creators (like myself) to remember that rejections are a part of the job, and that it's okay to get rejected. It hurts, but it does not define you, or label your personal worth. (This' something which may take a long time, I know for me it's a Work in Progress, hang in there. 

I wanted to get some more perspectives, so I tweeted out to the #WritingCommunity on Twitter (who you can find by using that hashtag), and asked how they deal with rejections. This' also a part of my #FF post. Quick side note, #FF means Follow Friday, and if you're a writer, get onto the Twitter and interact with people(genuinely of course) and you might just get a shout out on Follow Friday. Don't forget to do it for others. Here are some responses to my tweet: 

@johansenmila tweeted "I submit to someone else. Keep at it."

@evilgeniustobe "As much as a rejection letter is telling me that I’m not what they’re looking for or that I’m not a right fit for them...is me saying the same thing back to the rejection letter. It’s just not my path and they aren’t what I’m looking for and we just wouldn’t be a right fit."

@CHart_author suggests you create a rejection folder to store them in and go back to writing. Great advice Mr. Hart! 

@ElizabethWrite4 "I shrug it off. They know if they're right for me. They aren't. That's cool. I still see a lot of neat folks running around here on twitter, even those who have rejected, and I still interact and they're still cool."

@TheEveMovie give a short piece of advice: "Move on." I really like this advice. It's very easy to get stuck up on a rejection, moving on is an important key to accepting rejections. 

@CC_the_martian "Once I’m done laughing it off to hide the pain of rejection I look for more places to submit and try again. If the sting lingers I try to lose myself in my work or in something I like."

In conclusion, Not Lev Gleason (@Lev_Gleason) "I like to remind myself that 'failure is success training"'. If you can take the lessons of your rejection, learn from your mistakes and grow as an artist then you're actually winning. If you can take the lessons of your rejection, learn from your mistakes and grow as an artist then you're actually winning."

Thank you everyone for your responses. To keep this blog post from being too long I didn't include everyone, so if you'd like to get some more advice, please go and look at my thread here. Give everyone who responded to my thread a look through, and maybe a follow if you like their feed.
https://twitter.com/ConductorPat/status/1147238003443666944 

Thanks for reading this update everyone. If you'd like to keep up with me, you can find me on Twitter @ConductorPat. All right, with that said, I'm going to give this a read through and go relax, maybe continue watching Stranger Things (I just started it today and it is SO good!! I regret falling behind). Keep Creating everyone, and I'll see you on the Tramway!