Rejection is a B word

Well, as you can tell, I got back my first rejection letter. The first of a possible five. It hurts like hell. Hell, I say.

I don't want it to be a reflection of my talent, because know that it is not. However, you can't help be feel a little hurt by any type of rejection. And I've been receiving these type of form letters, rejections, since I was seventeen. Yes, it was at the age of seventeen that I started trying to do something with my artistic talent that would be fun and hopefully profitable.

Now here I am, about to be 43 years old and still receiving rejection letters. It's almost enough to break your spirits. Seriously. And although my spirits have yet to be broken, it does absolutely nothing for my confidence.

What I have never understood is why is it that my paintings and such are so popular and my comics are not. It just backwards that the talent that I have no interest in exploiting is excepted and the talent that I wish to exploit no one seems to be interested in.

Still, it's just one rejection letter. I guess I shouldn't let it weigh so heavily on me, but it does.

Hell, these places gets hundreds of submissions a week. I don't understand how they could have even reviewed mine. It makes you wonder if they just attached a rejection letter and put it into the SASE I provided.

BASTARDS!

lol

E.W. Forge

Sucks to be average.

(Yet another discarded, original, illustration from my Children's book).

Can I just say that the worst part of creating any cartoon image for me is the inking. I suck at it and I don't find it to be interesting at all. I believe the trick of a good inkier is to take the pencil drawing and elevate it to another level. Taking what the artist did and giving it that extra pop. To me I always feel like I am just tracing something that I already did. So there is no sense of wonder or creation. I wish I had the inking skills where I could just know when to make a like bold and when to make a line thin, but it's just not a skill I possess. To be honest with you, the coloring aspect is not really a skill I have either, however can fact that. After all....I am an artist. :)

As a side bar, today I got my proposals together for four different publications. However, by the time I took them to the nearest post office, it was closed. Sucks, right? I mean, I could have taken them to the main post office, but I figured that they still wouldn't go out until Monday, so why not wait? Besides, the truth is, it can take anywhere from six to nine months to hear back from these place. (It's like trying to get my comics syndicated all over again. And I could wall paper at least one wall of my bedroom with those rejection letters.)

E.W. Forge

Getting it all together

Okay, this is one of the illustrations that I actually hope to use for the book itself. It is also one of the three illustrations that I plan on mailing of to my publishing hopefuls. I got to tell you that I went back and forth with this picture and it actually almost did not make the cut. I had actually made the decision to cut it for the one with Littlephont putting on his pants, but got talked out of it. In the long run I think I made the right decision.

Why was I originally going to scrap this one? Well, mainly because I could not get the prospective right, as it related to our main character sitting up in bed. But I think it turned out okay in the end.

************

Today, I went out and spent a boat load of money on supplies and copies so I could put my best foot forward when I got ready to send out my proposals. I bought printer ink, bonded paper, mailing envelops, labels and went back and forth trying to get my illustrations to copy down to a size that would match every other piece of paper that I was sending out. Printing ain't cheap, but a brother's gotta do what a brother's gotta do, right?

Right.

E.W.Forge

Here we go again.

This is another one of the original illustrations for the book. It is a bath tub scene, duh. It a simple enough, cute little piece but I had to step it up a notch. This is one of the few originals that I did not change all that much. However, make no mistake about it, I did change it.

Anyway, on to the good news. I have found three potential publishers that I plan on sending my Children's book proposal too. I'm never and excited all at the same time. Why nerve you ask? Because, rejection sucks. And trust me when I tell you I know what rejection feels like. I've been getting rejected since I was eighteen. That's right. "Eighteen". That's around the time I started trying to get my comic strip posted. (Still hasn't happened.)

Anyway, wish me look. I plan on going to Staples and making copies, buying a better grade of paper for my letters, envelopes, etc.

E.W. Forge

Publication is hard!

Publication is hard! Okay, technically I've only started looking this week, but still.

Friday, April 15, 2011, I went to the Dallas Public Library and checked out the above books. Sadly, there are so many publishers that do not accept unsolicited bodies of work. I understand, but damn. I was hoping not to have to look for an agent, but I might end up going that route. Either that or Self-publication. Don't get me wrong. I'm not down on agents, it's just that I sure would like that 15% percent or so to go to some kid's charity. That is my wish anyway. I will still give a percentage of the book to a charity, because that has been on my heart since I decided to do this, but once again. "Damn." lol

Know what else sucks? It sucks that there are a bunch of contest for writers and illustrators but I waited to late in the year to be illegible.

Whatever, I refuse to give up. I can make this happen. I will do the work. I will pray about it. And this will happen. This is my calling. I know it. I've always know it. I just have to put my whole heart, my full head and half...no, no, full @$$ into it. lol

Stay tuned.

E.W.Forge

Moping like my character

Another discarded illustration from the book. I actually like this image, but I decided to go with one that did a better job of showing him moping then this one. Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but it's true.

Anyway, I'm not very happy. Know what I learnt today? Today, well yesterday actually, I learned that finding a publisher that takes unsolicited works from unknown writers is harder then I once imaged. So, it looks like I jumped the gun when I ended my diner date with my girls to go to Staples and make all those expensive a$$ copies. Now, I know I need to focus on finding at least three established publishers to send my work off to.

I think I'll make a journey to the library tomorrow (today), after my hair cut and see what I can find out.

Today I had dinner with two of my greatest friends. Notice I said "greatest" not "best". That is because great surpasses best. I have know these two ladies since I was eighteen years old. EIGHTEEN! We have worked together. Cried together. Shared most of out biggest experiences together. Heck, I think they have shared all of the biggest moments in my life with me. I don't think there is a single thing about me that these two ladies don't know. They know more about me then my family. So, is there any wonder why I would share with them all of the illustrations, the dummy book and the the premise of the book (plus my idea for a sequel).

Of course that is not all we talked about, but it was a big part of it.

Above you see yet another drawing that was discarded from the book. It was cute but I found a better vantage point for it. (Vantage point. Did I use that correctly?)

E.W. Forge