If I Only Had A Shell ...

As nice, as constructive, as encouraging as a rejection might be, it's still a rejection.

The agent's/magazine's/ezine's response is sitting in your inbox, waiting, waiting for you to click it open...and in that moment just before you click it, the chance is still there, the potential, the possibility...until you see the "Unfortunately" or the "I'm sorry to say..." or, as in one memorable case, the words "Dear: Lady" scrawled on a form letter.

I know rejections are part of being a writer. I get that, believe me. But still, on the days I get rejections I wish I had shells like Larry and Mrs. Larry. I wish I could pull myself inside and hunker down and wait until it was "safe" to come out. Although, I guess I do have my own version of that - it's called the couch, ice cream, and a Law & Order:SVU or CSI: marathon.

Of course, I eventually poke my head out, look around, and head back to my computer. I look over the query or the flash piece. I research other agents/magazines/ezines, and I send my work out again. And again. And again.

How This Blog Got Its Name

I've always loved turtles and tortoises. This past summer, my husband and I brought home two baby Barbados Red Foot tortoises. We named them Larry and Mrs. Larry, and they have since become my little hard shelled muses. They are the perfect symbols for my writing and creative process - slow and steady with a hard shell to hide in when rejection rains down (and believe me, it does, oh it does...)

But, unlike the torts, I can't stay tucked in my shell all the time. And so, this blog. It's a small step, to be sure, in a world where it seems like everyone is tweeting and on Facebook etc. I'm just adding my small, quiet voice to the mix and hope someone hears it, likes it, and maybe learns a little something from it.

Oh, but the name of the blog. Well, my husband and I were watching our tortoises burrow a bit, and Larry in particular was digging away in the corner, as if he was trying to escape (he wasn't, or so we hope!) We were reminded of the Stephen King book/movie (Rita Hayworth and) The Shawshank Redemption. It took about two seconds before we both said, "No, it's The Shellshank Redemption! Ha ha!" And a blog was born...