Failure is trying and not succeeding.
Rejection is trying but being dismissed.
Which do you prefer to spur your creativity and keep you moving forward? What was the most important failure or rejection of your career?
Here is a rumination on failure to get your juices flowing.
Although, this part isn’t so much intriguing as heartening.
I called the post office inspector’s office to see if they could help me identify the source of some mysterious mailings. With the goal of stopping them and/or finding out if their existence had a larger meaning.
That afternoon, my local postal inspector called to discuss the issue, offer guidance, and tell me about their next steps.
Two days later, another local postal employee called me to follow up on the follow-up, and tell me that he’d spoken about the issue with the carrier who delivers my mail.
They are on the case!
I haven’t felt this taken care of by any company lately, so I appreciate the effort they are making on my behalf.
When is the most creative time of the day? Mornings? Evening? Late into the night?
I’ve written at all times of the day, and either I haven’t quite figured out my best writing time, or I’m in denial that getting up early (which I hate to do) is really the best time for me to write.
When does the ink from your pen start flowing the easiest?
As a business person who markets to people who don’t know me, I try to honestly answer the question: “Where did you get my name?” Sometimes I don’t recall exactly, but I’ll do my best to answer.
Now, the rarity of that response among other businesses is becoming apparent. I’ve gotten some direct mail–more than one piece from more than one company–addressed to me, at my address, with an erroneous company name.
For very many reasons, I want to get my name disassociated from this business and off any more lists (we know how they can propagate).
None of the businesses has even tried to help me, though. It’s not that they say they don’t know, it’s that they won’t even speak to me, or refer me to the right person, when I tell them what I need.
Yes, people lie to extract information. But even if they don’t know or trust me…what kind of trade secret is this? It’s my name and contact information. What, exactly, do they think I’m going to do with the information?