Everything is not coming up roses

There's much more work to do on this academic article, but I need to get some things off of my chest before I return to carrying on as if I was a brave warrior.

So I received my first rejection. I am not alone here, yet it feels solitary. Dr. Belcher's book, Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks would be unnecessary if scholars weathered the storms of writing and rejection well. Yes, the book is aimed at submitting an article that does not get rejected the first time out, but she is candid about the process and rejection is part of it. "The only difference between much-published authors and unpublished authors is often persistence and not worthiness." And persistent I am!

Belcher ends her book with a story of a scholar who kept submitting his work to journals and kept getting rejected. Eventually, his work got published and it was the stuff that won a Nobel Prize. There were three morals to the story: "First, just because an article is rejected—one, two, even three times—does not mean that it is a bad article. Second, it may take thirty years for the Nobel Prize committee to recognize your genius . . . so hang in there! Third, you may have to go through hell to get a good article published. Fortunately, you will be in good company."

Let's make something clear . . . I will never win a Nobel. Not my goal. Also, this is not really hell. The process of publishing in academic journals is a fascinating business though, and if your work goes to reviewers, you actually get feedback from your peers. The feedback actually has me optimistic. It will strengthen the argument not only of the article, but the book I am also working on. I will have to remember that this does not necessarily mean that this is a bad article, bad idea, not a real contribution, etc. They said nothing of the sort.

On my website, I say, as a life coach, that I am unwilling to put my clients through anything I would not be willing to do myself. So yes, I will face rejection. I will face renewed critique. It is not the first time, and it won't be the last.

Just sayin'.