A Writer's Notebook, Day Four-Hundred-And-Sixty-Seven

One of my major interests as writer is attempting to do things that are new, to press myself to do things in my work that I don't know I have seen done before, especially in terms of the technical aspects of the work.  At times, this kind of work is easily dismissed.  I am certain that many of poems do, indeed, fail, if I am honest, but even among those that are, by my measure, successful, poems I have shown to trusted readers and had positive responses, poems I have read out and received very positive responses to, even these works are often dismissed by an editor.  I have had work that was praised by those I know dismissed with rather harsh critique, for example, suggesting I have no idea about writing a poem in the first place.  The truth is, I know I have talent, and I am certain that there are other poems which these same editors might respond to, though I can't guess which.  But, the deeper issue is balancing the criticism with my own internal compass, for lack of a better metaphor. 

While I do not doubt my ability overall, and am even certain that many of the poems that have been rejected would succeed in the right context, I also know that editors know what they are speaking of as well.  I loathe writers who completely dismiss criticism, or who call any editor or agent who rejects them an idiot.  The thing is, I am also aware that I am not doing mainstream work at times, so there are editors who will not connect with it.  

I need to learn from the rejections I receive, to recognize that they have value as feedback, but I also need to balance what I learn in the context of artistic goals.  Doing that, however, is not always easy.  And none of this is helped by the ego-bruising nature of being rejected to begin with...

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