Well. I had my 15 minutes of shame. Actually it wasn’t that bad just disappointing.

I did have my meeting with a person in acquisitions for a publishing house regarding my book proposal. While I prepared as best I could, in essence it was a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” type of meeting.

Yes. I did learn some things with this process and yes, I will continue on with the manuscript and yes, I will try and get it in the hands of some other publisher. But for now I feel kind of bummed, embarrassed and silly.

Have you ever tried for something and been disappointed with the outcome? Stumbled, fallen, not made the mark? You get up and look around, hoping no one saw the tumble.

Of course, I am aware of the people who have stumbled, fallen, not made the mark and then, after persevering for a while, sometimes years, things fall into place and they have their dreams realized. The writers who have tons of rejection notices to their name, only to have someone pick up their manuscript and now they are best-selling authors. Or the film script that gets rejected for years only to finally be picked up and becomes a blockbuster, Oscar winning film.

But I also think of those creatives who keep plugging along with their writing, music, painting, acting, film making and never get picked up. Yet they keep going. Doing it for the love of creating. Many times what they create is just as good, even better than what is in the “successful” realm. Their work may not touch millions but they may touch the one in a million person who needs to hear what they have to say.

It is an interesting place to be- the soul shaped desire to create just for creating itself. Knowing that if one doesn’t do any creating, one’s soul is chipped away, like water dripping on a stone- eventually holes will form and the stone changes shape. To stay “in shape”, to stay sane; therefore, one needs to create.

But, one also creates for others- to be seen and heard and experienced. If one is fortunate enough, to change the world’s perspective for the good through the art of creation. In order to do so, the created work has to be out there for all to see. Keeping it under a bushel doesn’t help anyone.

And so, I will press on. But there are no words at this point when one is feeling disappointed.

My experience has me thinking-what is the best way to be with others when they are disappointed? Telling platitudes and expressions or examples of others having gone through the same situation, really doesn’t help. There is a period of wallowing in self-pity that I think we go through- (Well, at least for me- that shows you how shallow I am!)

I have found that there are two things that help me navigate disappointment: working on some household project and helping someone else. The former helps me to process what has taken place all the while doing some mindless task. The latter helps me to put my disappointment into perspective. So while I am wallowing, I feel that I have at least accomplished something.

What about you? Any disappointments lately? How did you navigate the situation? Do you have a ritual or routine that helps you? What do you do to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again?

Here is the wonderful Diana Krall singing a rendition of the Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields song. Is Ms. Krall’s husband- Elvis Costello-on the guitar behind her? https://youtu.be/_p_JxDGVqXg.

Here’s the segment from the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film, Swing Time that Kern and Fields created for the 1936 film: Click here. Enjoy. It is hard to stay wallowing when Fred and Ginger kick up their heels.