I remember once finishing a memoir and querying a number of agents and publishers about the project. And in the following days and weeks, I became miserable. I slipped into a desperate longing for affirmation. And with each rejection letter, I began to even second guess aspects of the proposal in the book itself. These rejections are coming from people who did not know me and who I did not know. But I spiraled into something that can only be described as obsession or desperation.
In this situation, I had worked for a half decade on this project. And to put it out there, to be judged was an incredibly vulnerable act. And in vulnerability, there’s courage. I’m proud of myself for that. But in this process, in this vulnerability, I needed to remember who I was in the midst of this loss of control and rejection. I was the beloved.
—from Franciscan Media’s Off the Page
with host Stephen Copeland, featuring Brother Greg Cellini, OSF
