Stephen King’s explanation of writing as telepathy is fresh in mind, considering I read it not 30 minutes ago from his venerable On Writing. King shared that he is writing the book in 1997, to be read in 2000 (at the earliest). His thoughts as written words were being sent across time and space through the magic of reading. Put another way, when writing (thoughts expressed as words) is read (words understood as thoughts), it’s telepathy.
We’re doing the same right now.
I am sharing my thoughts on July 2021 from my desk in St. Louis to you, whoever, wherever, whenever you are. It’s a humbling ordeal. Easy to second guess, to wonder how dare I put these words and thoughts out there. That’s exactly why fear of writing rejections can be so crippling.
When writing is rejected, it may feel like our very thoughts are being rejected. It doesn’t get more personal. Then again, there’s doubtless some readers who haven’t read this far and rejected this post already. It’s easier not knowing, but much better, and likely necessary, to embrace it.
That’s why Stephen King stuck a stake through his rejections and into a wall until they fell from the weight. If we understand rejection is a part of writing, then there’s little to fear. Some collect them as scars from the writer’s struggle. Some compete for them. They can be little badges of courage. Something to be celebrated.
For too long now, I’ve rejected my own written thoughts by not sending them out to a wider readership because I feared others rejecting it. It’s sounds self-defeating and even a bit silly but that’s the nature of fear. Many of us have been there in one way or another. While I can’t telepathically communicate with my past self, I can still gladly assure my future self that embracing rejection is how we’ll be doing this writing telepathy thing from now on.
Andrew Sippie 