This happened about a year and a half ago.
After having (overly) high hopes for placing one of my short stories, I hit the dumps hard upon receiving the 20[sup]th[/sup] rejection. Later in the day, I dragged my black, grumpy mood to Kroger for something I don't recall and happened to strike up a conversation with a delightful woman who'd recently celebrated her 90[sup]th[/sup] birthday and was in town visiting her niece.
It didn't take her long to ask why I seemed down, so I told her. Without missing a beat or even asking one solitary detail about the story, my intended market, or the target audience, she offered the can't-miss remedy to my woe.
She said: "I bet you don't have enough sex in it. Try adding some more. That'll do the trick."
After I freed my jaw from my shoelaces, I thanked her and spent the rest of the night and days to come chuckling over the very astute advice I'd received from a great-grandma.
Anyone else have an unexpected rescuer hoist you from the depths of rejection despair?
After having (overly) high hopes for placing one of my short stories, I hit the dumps hard upon receiving the 20[sup]th[/sup] rejection. Later in the day, I dragged my black, grumpy mood to Kroger for something I don't recall and happened to strike up a conversation with a delightful woman who'd recently celebrated her 90[sup]th[/sup] birthday and was in town visiting her niece.
It didn't take her long to ask why I seemed down, so I told her. Without missing a beat or even asking one solitary detail about the story, my intended market, or the target audience, she offered the can't-miss remedy to my woe.
She said: "I bet you don't have enough sex in it. Try adding some more. That'll do the trick."
After I freed my jaw from my shoelaces, I thanked her and spent the rest of the night and days to come chuckling over the very astute advice I'd received from a great-grandma.
Anyone else have an unexpected rescuer hoist you from the depths of rejection despair?
