Write or Die Wednesday is a biweekly link-up where we’re provided a prompt, and we roll with it. The prompt for the next two weeks is:

There have been many times that I’ve felt on top of the world, both literally and figuratively, but when I read this prompt, what immediately came to mind was the day I received my first acceptance letter from a literary magazine. I nearly erupted! I couldn’t believe it!

And it came at the perfect time, too. I was about to give up on my dreams of becoming a published writer. Although I’ve had a few articles published in online blogs, my goal was to have my stories and poetry published. My dream was to see my novels flying off the bookshelves. I wanted to be the next bestselling author whose books were made into movies.

My rising stack of rejection letters were really starting to get me down. Stories and poems that had always received praise in writing workshops, were being turned down left and right by various magazines. The cryptic rejection letters had me scrambling to figure out what about my story or poem the editors didn’t like. The non-responses from editors who, in my mind, felt they were too good to acknowledge the fact that I’d showed an interest in their publication made me want to crawl under a rock. What’s the point? I would ask myself. It’s not like I can make a living as a writer today anyway.

Then in January of this year, I got the most exciting news in an email…

It is with great pleasure that we accept ‘Full Court Drama’ for publication in Agave Magazine, Vol.2 Issue 3 {Winter 2015}.

What?! Really?! No Ashton nearby? Oh my god! YEEESSSS!!!

Since then, I’ve had two poems and another short story published, and just recently, I learned that my poem, “How to Cure the Flu,” has been accepted in the Recipes issue of Meat for Tea: The Valley Review. I’m ecstatic!

This only motivates me to keep writing. I have to keep writing. I want my acceptance letter stack to one day surpass my stack of rejection letters. I want my dreams to one day become reality, and the only way to do that is to not let setbacks get me down. I’m a writer. No, I’m an author, dammit. And I’m a damn good one. And the world will soon find out because I’ll keep writing and submitting my work.

I’ll write or die.