Kyle Kerr

A Moment In Time

03/31/08 | My Writings | 3 Comments

Starting out with the bad news here: I didn’t get into Grad School.  I don’t really know why (I was rejected through the use of a form letter).  Understandably, I’m sad, but I’m not really devastated.  I sort of have this mantra of “hope for the best, plan for the worst,” so I had been setting myself up for a loss from the word go.  I do wish that I could have had some feedback, though, and can only hope that there was an exceptionally high number of well qualified applicants this year and yes, they regret not being able to take me, but they just couldn’t fit in everybody and I lost out by one spot.  Or something like that.

But, sadly enough, as a writer I’m used to rejections.  This is a business where “no” is heard way more often than “yes”, and we’re warned of that right from the off (at least I was; I can’t speak for everyone.  O, but to live in ignorance!).  It’s just one more piece of shit to throw into the inferno that is my life, or should I say career…?  The odds are against us from the very beginning, and it’s to the point where I have to hope that others fail so that I might have better chances at success.  With the advent of self-publishing and the internet, everyone thinks they can write a book (Paris Hilton, anyone?), and, even though there have never been so many people on earth, there have also never been so many would-be writers, either.  Think about it.  Even if one half of one percent of people wanted to be writers, that’s still 30 MILLION people I have to compete with.

The keys are persistence and—hopefully—talent.  As awful as it is, I’ve come to the point where rejection seems to roll off my back.  I opened the rejection letter from Emerson and, after a slight pang, it was more Eh.  Really.  I expect to fail, and every acceptance is somewhat of a shock.  Yet I continue to write.  Why?  Because I love it, and I wouldn’t be able to stop even if I wanted to.  It’s ingrained in me, and it doesn’t look like it’s ever going to leave, so I keep going.  I’m aim to persevere.  And I’m a stubborn little bastard (just ask my mother).

I try to write every day.  It’s been hard working on my novel lately, so I write in other ways.  Not only do I have the novel in the works, but I work on short stories, I write for three different blogs (this one, Yeah, Great Blog..., and Filmonic), and I’ve even done a little work on my second novel (not much… mostly planning, but I have started the first chapter).  And, as always, I continue to read, ever broadening my mind, ever absorbing new words and voices and writing styles.

There are as number of things going for me, I think.  I discovered my passion relatively early.  No, I didn’t start writing little kid stories when I was 7, but I did start when I was 14, and that’s pretty good.  I’ve had all of those years to write crap, and I feel that I’ve reached a point where I write in my own voice and don’t emulate my favorite authors/books.  I have a great support system of family and friends and other writers, people I trust to tell me that my shit doesn’t smell like the roses I thought it did.  I’m widely read, and read as often as humanly possible (taking schoolwork into consideration, as always!).  I like to think I understand what constitutes a good story, and have the ability to provide/create one.  And, most importantly, I still have many years left to fail.  As much as I would like to have been published yesterday already, I know it’ll happen in due time.  Sounds oddly optimistic for a writer (and for me especially), but I have faith in myself and in my talents as a writer.  I know something is just around the corner, and I can’t wait to see what it is.

Until next…

Kyle W. Kerr