Some Things Are Out of Your Control

 

You could apply for a writing gig and have the best credentials all around and someone else will still get the job.

 

You could submit a short story which you think is the most amazing story ever written and a perfect match for a magazine, and still get rejected.

 

You could submit a time-sensitive pitch to a client but not only will they get to your pitch several days later but they also reject it.

 

When you are a writer, the task of getting published is a gamble. Something which you may feel would be “right” for one market may not be a good fit after all. A book proposal you submit to a literary agent may not be right for them after all.

 

These kinds of things happen all the time. And no matter what we, as writers, do to make certain that all of our ducks are in a row, there’s a chance it won’t be enough.

 

Additionally, we may cling to certain habits as writers, but then something happens that will bring that habit to an end. For me, that habit was meeting my deadlines. As a freelance writer, this is important to me. But as a content writer, I have learned that sometimes, a deadline is not exactly set in stone. I do try hard to get my work to a client on time, but even if I meet a deadline, the client may not actually have the chance to get to it just yet. It’s a hard lesson I had to learn, but then I realized that some things are just out of my control.

 

Just as they are out of my control with the rest of the writing that I do. I can try my best to meet a deadline, turn in my best work, include all of the requested materials for a submission and research the heck out of a magazine before writing and submitting my work, and all of that can still fall short in the end. All of that could not stand up to what goes on with the person on the receiving end.

 

As a writer, you should put in your best effort, but understand that sometimes, that won’t get you the desired result. It won’t get you the acceptance. It won’t get you the gig. It won’t get you the assignment or the coveted contract. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try or what effort you put in, the answer will end up being “no.” Or you just may not meet that deadline.

 

That’s just the way it is in the writing life. It’s something we writers have to accept. We try our best, but sometimes, things just won’t work out for us the way we want them to. Some things are just out of our control. Instead of allowing this to hold everything up or throw us out of whack, we have to accept this and move on.