Rejected

I got a letter yesterday from a university. If you've ever applied to college I'm sure you know the kind. It came in a small envelope. That's right, I didn't get in to my creative writing program.

As you can imagine, the letter didn't come at the best time. I had only been back from California for two days and didn't think anything could depress me more than Michigan's job market. Oh how wrong one can be!

I have to say I was rather proud of myself for avoiding a fully fledged meltdown, you know how accustomed I am to those and think my Family are truly grateful that I decided to spare them this time. If I'm honest I had a feeling I wouldn't get in. I've never had a huge amount of luck with giant institutions and perhaps it will always be so. I've never been the best student in the world, maybe I am just not as good a writer as I thought.

Well, that's bollocks! I may not be a brilliant writer but I decided last year that that's what I want to be, and so come hell or high water I'm going to be a writer...even if I'm the only one who reads my stuff.

I have already made a list of five schools I'm going to apply to. Most of them are in the UK. This is not necessarily because I want to move back home. It's because their programs are only a year long and more intensive. Also, these schools are well known for their creative writing programs. Plus, I think it would be a good idea to get out of Michigan before I get sucked into the abyss forever.

If I want to be a writer, I should get used to rejection. I am planning on framing my first rejection letter and putting it near my desk. It may seem weird but nothing motivates a person like rejection.

My Mother said as far as rejection letters go, it was a very nice one and while it was polite and respectful I wish they hadn't tiptoed around the fact for the first paragraph. It wasn't until the last sentence of the first paragraph that they actually mentioned rejection, even though the sheer fact that it was in a small envelope told me what it was going to say. Is it weird that I started critiquing my rejection letter? yeah, I thought so too.

I now have to fill out five new applications, five entrance essays, get numerous references and get in all sorted out and organized. It's actually nice to have a purpose. Maybe rejection isn't as bad as I thought.