Bejection Dancing

Had a story bejected–sorry, I’ll translate that from Allenanian into English–rejected this morning. Here is a picture of me after I fell in a parking lot back in 2005. This is how I feel in the first instant I receive a bejection.

Then I recover (much more quickly than I did from the physical injuries) and I do the Bejection Dance. Here are two posts I did on my defunct WEBLAHG regarding the Bejection Dance. You are welcome to sing the song and/or do the dance yourselves but, if you perform them in public, please credit me. ::snort:: The song is not poorly scanned; it’s the blues. Duh.

Reprinted from WEBLAHG:

Story got bejected, but I sure don’t care.
Dancing on the front porch, dancing on the kitchen chair.
Dancing in the front room, dancing on the front room couch.
Kicking knees and heels up sure beats yelling, “They don’t like me! Ouch!”

Story got bejected, so what’s up with that?
Lots of markets out there, so I grab the cat
(No-no, that’s the mean one–grab the other one)
Waltz and do the polka. Yeah, bejection’s fun.

Sent the story off to another market which I EXPECT to reject it. Meanwhile, I’m lining up potential markets that might actually buy it. It’s a good story, if I do say so myself. :)

MA

writing prompt: How does your main character handle rejection? How does his/her cat handle your main character’s handling of rejection?

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Begin from a static pose, as the horrible news hits.

Slow, graceful movements, with lots of bendy bits and curvy bits as if floating in a sea of sorrow.

Still slow, the graceful movements become angular and painful-looking, as self-doubt attacks.

Freeze. Unbend. Straighten. Realization–that one market is just one market and the story is good–strikes, like a series of sudden sharp chords moving from dissonant to triumphantly harmonious, banishing the self-doubt.

Rapid, graceful movements, with lots of twirls and leaps and flinging about of arms. Maybe some of those things up on toes then flat on feet then up on toes then flat on feet in another position–you know what I’m talking about–up-flap-up-flop-up-flap-up-flop–signifying excitement over the next entry into the fray.

Big long deer-leaps off the stage and into the next submission and the next project.

Come back out and take a bow and tell them to keep the damn roses, just throw money.

MA

writing prompt: How does your main character deal with rejection? How about your villain? Write a nice person who doesn’t handle rejection well and an unpleasant person who is gracious in defeat.

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “Bejection Dancing

  1. MARIAN ALLEN · Friday Recommends

    January 28, 2011 at 9:37am

    […] And always, always, Sara D vs Reality, posting M-W-F. Today is writing exercise day. I can’t wait till she wakes up and posts for today. Meanwhile, Wednesday was 7 ways to deal with rejection, not including doing the bejection dance. […]

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  2. Holly Jahangiri

    November 27, 2011 at 1:43pm

    You are just too funny.

    You’re not a real writer until you can wallpaper a small bathroom in rejection slips. You know that.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  3. Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

    September 2, 2016 at 8:56pm

    I don’t think this was whiny. I think it was a healthy way to deal with being BEJECTED.

    Can’t store that stuff up inside – it festers.

    You are allowed to have feelings and deal with them as you like. So there.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      September 4, 2016 at 7:56am

      Thanks, Alicia! I absolutely agree — singular rejections can build up until they seem like one big crushing load of REJECTION. I long ago decided to deal with rejections on a catch-and-release basis, and I’ve been happier, healthier — and more successful, in my small way — ever since. 🙂

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply

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