Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The Wonderful World of Rejection. And When, Heaven Forbid, It's a YES!

Sometimes I'm so engrossed in my own rejections - and yes, I've a stack now - that I forget it can be just as hard to break into other industries. Over the past few months, The Man has been submitting his first feature-length film to festivals around the world and receiving his fair share of that dreaded letter himself.

He made me laugh the other week when he told me his new strategy. When he receives an email, he doesn't read it. He just hits 'Control F' - for 'Find' and types in 'regret'. As soon as the computer locates the word 'regret' in the email, he knows he's been rejected. He doesn't even read the whole thing!

I used to pour over every word, trying to decipher a hidden meaning. Until I discovered the hard way - through every writer's friend, Google - that a seemingly personalised rejection letter was, word for word, exactly what loads of other rejected writers had received. Now, I scan such letters, add them to my stack, and move on. It hurts less and less, but as the letters add up, it sometimes makes you wonder if it'll ever happen.

But it can!

Saturday night, pre-X-Factor (yes, big Saturday night, I know). I was in the kitchen, covered with flour, rolling out the dough for our pizza, when I heard a whoop and the thump of footsteps running over to me. The Man grabbed me and danced me around, flour and all -- he had received an ACCEPTANCE to the Sao Paulo International Film Festival, one of the top 50 film festivals in the world, according to Variety Magazine.

He - we - were walking on air for the rest of the weekend. It can happen, after all!

6 comments:

Anita Davison said...

Yay! Congratulations to Marsha's Man for want of a better name but she didn't put it on the blog! That's great news and you must both be on a high right now - keep us in the loop on progress won't you?

Marsha said...

Thanks so much Anita! I'll keep you updated! :)

Anonymous said...

Fantastic news. That is a really big deal. You two are obviously a very talented pair. I am really pleased for both of you!

Marsha said...

Thank you Selma!

KimB said...

Well, congratulations to The Man, of course!

But I must admit that what stood out the most was the pizza-making activity. YOU were making pizza?! And from scratch?

Go Marsha!

Criss L. Cox said...

Congratulations!!! :)