I had it last week. I only realized it when I had a whole day to work on revisions and didn’t even want to look at a computer. The killer was when I realized I was chucking my to-do list, but didn’t even want to do something fun, like read for pleasure. Red flags whipped in my mind’s wind and I thought: What in the world would make me feel so limp? Then I remembered the two rejections over the past two weeks.

Oh, potatoes! I have TeReDeSy!

The acronym almost flows off of your tongue when you speak it as if it were some fancy-dancy word. I wish it were as easy to flow off of my emotional body. But that is the trick to being a writer, both clinging to those emotions and hating them. For strong emotions are essential for good writing, but the same strong emotions in real life can send said author on a stomach-leaving roller-coaster ride.

Part of the healthy recovery plan is knowledge and acceptance of the problem. “Hi. My name is Sandy. I was rejected.” (You all chime in with a “Hi, Sandy.”) Then I cuddle in the circle with my writer friends, and remember that Star Wars was rejected by every major Hollywood Studio; Gone with the Wind was rejected 67 times; and Jane Yolen, author of more than 300 children’s books, continues to get rejections.

An important knowledge point is to remember that the first and major word of the acronym is “temporary.”

Remember the rejection feeling. Use it with your characters (e.g., KeeKee didn’t get the role she wanted in the school play; Robroy struck out and his team consequently lost; Myst told Jake she loved him, and then he walked away from her).

Join me fellow writers, in putting our right hands on top of each other, and lifting them together with a cry of “BACK TO WRITING!”

P.S. Yes, I made up that acronym – TeWrDeSy. After all, I’m a fiction writer. It’s my privilege to do so. I have tons more Sandy-Vocabulary which I have used often enough that even my literal, focused hubby has learned how to understand my language.