getting myself rejected

From "Reasons Why Your Manuscript Got Rejected" at Inkygirl:

4. The writer seems like a difficult person to work with. Wendy always Googles an author’s name before offering a contract. She says she may be prompted to change her mind about signing up an author if they share too much information in their blog, if they tend to blog a lot about how hard writing is, if they blog about being rejected many times, if they publicly bash a book she’s worked on, or if they bash a colleague in the business who is her friend.

- shares too much information: Like the colour of underwear I'm wearing? Or the fact that I sometimes drool in my sleep on the side where my nerves are dead?

- how hard writing is: Writing is a breeze! Easy-peasy! No problemo! You hear me agents and editors? NO PROBLEMO. It must be easy, because James Patterson's just signed on to write 17 books in 3 years.

- about being rejected: I haven't had a rejection in years! (Okay well I haven't submitted something in years, but still.)

- publicly bash a book: Winnie the Pooh! What a terrible book. Who could write such trash??

Navel Gazing: The Books That Changed My Life - Bibletude

The Bibble (New International Version is my fave translation)

I attended a very Bible-centered church from about age 15 to 23, and so was exposed to all these great stories. There are a lot of movies and books in the western world that reference the Bible (in symbolism etc), so it's handy to have that Biblical literacy.

There are also some beautiful, beautiful passages, such as Paul's writings about love; or one of my Old Test faves "I've set before you life and death, blessing or cursing--therefore choose life." Friend Maewitch once asked me if this meant I believed there was something wrong/unnatural about death. Definitely not. Death is only the other side of the coin, after all. You really can't have one without the other. You can't even survive without killing things. But I believe we're genetically *programmed* to want to live, while we are alive. We're supposed to "rage against the dying of the light" as Dylan Thomas wrote.

And more importantly, I take this passage on a symbolic/moral level. We don't know why we're here, or whether there's a God, or any sort of *meaning* to this life--but I think all you can do is respond to life as you see it, as you're living it. And I think the most compassionate way to live that life is to make decisions that "choose life" so to speak--being kind to people, helping others, practicing compassion, caring about the life around you, whether it's the environment or animals. If you live this way, and then you die and that's all there was... well, won't you have lived a worthwhile life? Won't you have made life just a little bit more bearable for someone else? I think that's a pretty good goal.

And finally, I think the New Test has some practical, indisputable advice for living your life. Not in all those historical-specific details, or obscure prophecies, but at the heart of the message: love each other. Practice patience, kindness, goodness, etc.