Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeejected!!

Well, that was quick!

Needless to say, I was very surprised to hear back from the Xeric Foundation a week before I expected them to respond. Once I saw that I had received a letter in my mailbox I had a sneaking suspicion that this was going to be a rejection letter. A lot of the times, people will either respond by telephone or e-mail if they accept your work. Of course this isn't necessarily true because I've received countless rejection via e-mail. But more times than not, if you're accepted it's by the quickest means possible.

Pretty much I was rejected by a form letter stating pretty much that they regret to inform me that I wasn't going to receive a grant and the board is far too busy to give reasons why it was rejected but don't stop trying to put my work out there.

I'll be honest, I'm not terribly upset by the news. Mostly because I kind of expected it. Not to downplay my work but there are so many artists out there. And art really is a subjective thing. What one person could think is the the greatest work since Schubert, another person might just find it merely mediocre.

I'm also pleased that I took that risk. If I didn't, I would be sitting around wondering "what if" right now. And it really wasn't a risk because all I ended up spending on was photocopies and postage.

It wasn't like I just spent millions of dollars to open up a high end restaurant only to have it fall into the Atlantic Ocean.

They were right about one thing in the letter. Don't give up. If you're a young artist, be prepared for many letters like this. Just learn from it and keep trying. The biggest mistake I ever made was giving up after my first few rejections back in 1999. Don't do that. Just keep sending your work out despite.

In the end I'm glad I did it and now I move forward. I had intended on putting out my Sherlock Holmes graphic novel even if I didn't get accepted by Xeric and that's what I'm still intending on doing.