Patty Mayeux Blog

It can be tough to stay golden when you’re told no in a thousand different ways. “It’s not the right fit,” “high volumes of submissions,” “We must pass on fine work.” Even personal rejections can sting: “This is not a reflection of your work.” “There was much to admire…” “Please submit again.” “Don’t give up.” “Persistence pays off.” No matter the bow wrapped around the message, the writer is left with yet another slice of email in the rejection pie. I recently suggested to some writer friends that I just might fold the papers into origami cranes. How else to Stay Gold in a world that is necessarily and mathematically built on rejections? N stands for No. It has a big, deep dip in the middle. But the letter N ends on an upswing. I count every one of them as a success in the pathway of nos leading to the yes. Guess what? When that happens, I’ll go back to the beginning of the path and start all over with another work. N may just become my favorite letter; with a bit of rearranging it becomes a Y for yes.