Challenge of the Week #61: Write a piece of flash fiction about rejection. The most masterfully written piece, as voted and determined by the Prose team, will be crowned winner and receive $100. Quality beats quantity, always, but numbers make things easier for our judges, so share, share, share with friends, family, and connections. #ProseChallenge #getlit #itslit

No Rejection No Cry

It’s been ten weeks, day in, day out, I’ve been putting together art proposals about ten in all. It’s the beginning of the year I’m bursting with optimism, energy and all things go. Nothing can stop me, full steam ahead, top speed, if you’re not in you can’t win etc. etc. One proposal after the other - research, writing, painting, photographing, photoshop-ing, editing, checking, phoning, posting, asking, re-editing, re-checking and a hundred and one other things. It takes serious intent, a lot of work, tunnel vision and a very large splash of pure optimism and one hell of a crazy mind to work up a brilliant idea, then develop it, find solutions, present an end game and then send this proposal to unknown entities or special, talented, know it all, all knowledgeable, invincible Gods.

But dare I say it, not only did I not get a single acknowledgement, a reply, a response or any thread of someone looking, seeing, receiving, posting, checking, investigating, reading or observing all my efforts. Nope not at all, not by any molecule of miraculous energy did any one explode onto or stumble upon my files.

Poor me no replies, nothing at all, now some art organisations don't reply, they deem it not worth their resources but that is a position that many fresh artists have to put up with for a sizable part of their career.

A prominent international artist once told us in Art College that when she got her first important exhibition she was ecstatic and after so many rejections to get such a big exhibition with a serious, famous and ‘emerged’ artist was just heaven, marvellous and downright good news. After the exhibition the prominent artist asked her what was next? She answered I think one or two open-calls are coming up in the next few months and she stopped there. He immediately looked on in shock and suggested that she should get off her ‘arse’ and apply for at least a number of calls every week as he usually received one approval every hundred applications until he became well known. She went home disillusioned but being a ‘true’ artist she eventually followed his advice and now she has reached the top rung of the 'ladder'!

Guess what I didn’t even get a rejection, that’s an artist’s predicament especially in the early stages of their career.