Someone Else’s Agenda
My daughter had to prepare a presentation for her work. She put in the time, effort and practice, then, the day before, the meeting was cancelled, with no plans to reschedule.
She was frustrated. She’d worked hard, yet no one would see it. I can relate. As a novelist, I sit and write. I type my words and slowly I end up with a product about which I’m proud. Yet, like my daughter’s experience, my work often goes unseen. It’s not because it’s bad—either my daughter’s work or my writing—it’s just someone else’s agenda didn’t match ours. We send out queries and literary agents reply that it’s not what they’re looking for. Or we get turned down by editors and publishers because our work isn’t the right fit. If we self-publish, we struggle to find our readers. We havewhat it takes: perseverance, skill, talent, a good story—but that’s not always enough.
That’s a hard pill to swallow. No matter that we do everything right—the way my daughter did in her job—still, it doesn’t always work out the way we want. The lesson: at least you did it. It doesn’t always feel comforting in the moment, but when it comes to my writing, it’s what finally lives within me. Yes, maybe my writing doesn’t (yet) match up to someone else’s agenda, but at least I did it. It’s there, ready and waiting for when the time comes when the right fit does come along.