DOWNSIDE UP

I received a copy of DOWNSIDE UP: TRANSFORM REJECTION INTO YOUR GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY by Tracey Mitchell from Thomas Nelson via BookSneeze.  This book holds a special place in my mind.  As a writer, I’ve faced plenty of rejection.  It started for me when, in high school, I took my totally unedited manuscript (why should I have editted it?  Clearly, it was perfect) and sent it off to a major publisher.  I knew it was going to be purchased, it would become a best seller, a movie would follow within a few months, and I would be greeted with fame and fortune.  Okay, so the actuality involved a form rejection letter arriving a little over a year later.  I was crushed.  It also helped me to look at getting published in a new light.  I took that rejection as a positive “work harder” pat on the back.  I’d already written the book.  I was dedicated to my dream then and I still am now.  I edited, joined critique circles, became president of the local writing club, entered contests, submitted to online journals, and queried my butt off.  

Seven years later, I have twenty completed manuscripts, publications in journals and anthologies, and I have a literary agent.  It all feels that much sweeter because of the thousands of rejections and my willpower to never give up.  People ask me how I can put up with all that rejection.  I’m never sure how to answer it – I know I have to keep trying despite the rejection – and this book gave me the answers I’ve been seeking. 

Rejection doesn’t just come in the form of a “not right for us, but thanks anyway” letter.  It can be from a boyfriend/girlfriend, from a job opportunity, from a family member… This book is a great eye-opener for all those moments when you just sit back, stunned, unable to move forward because you don’t even know what to think, let alone do at that moment.  I loved how Tracey Mitchell wove God into her paragraphs. 

When those rejections come, sit down with a hot cup of tea (or whatever comfort drink makes you smile no matter what) and read a chapter from DOWNSIDE UP.  The pain may still linger, but you’ll have the right kind of thoughts to ponder, the kind that bring you up to the surface rather than drag you down deeper.