Day Job Becomes Dream Job

Rejection in the writing world occurs more often than the common cold.  I suffered my greatest setback when I opened my email over a year ago.  The news was more stinging than a flu shot.  The search committee has chosen another candidate for the position you applied for.  Dreams of writing full-time fizzled.  I felt deflated.  My writing friends were 1,800 miles away.  I visited the local library.  "Are there any other writers who live in the area?"  I asked.

"You're the first one," the librarian replied.

I was hoping to find someone to share my pain with.  The writers I left behind in California were so encouraging.  It was like going to a support group.  They were excited when I shared my plans for my new life in the Midwest.  This is a nightmare, I thought.  What am I going to do now that I've been rejected by the committee?

The answer was in the next phone call.  "We would like you to come in for your third interview, Michael.  Are you available?"

One week later, I was hired.  "We like anonymity, Michael.  You can do whatever you like on your free time, however, please keep your work life separate from your private life.  We don't like to call attention to ourselves,"  my new boss told me.  There are only a couple of people at my day job who know I love to write.  And they don't even know I volunteered to work as the reporter for our location.  Drum roll, please...

My boss told me the home office called yesterday to verify the facts of the first story I submitted for publication.  "Your story will be published in two months," she told me.  In an instant my day job turned into my dream job.  Another manager walked up to me and said, "I hear you're our new reporter.  Are you a writer?"

"Yes," I answered.  "Writing is my dream job."

I'm still pinching myself that my first submission at my day job will be published in our companies' national publication.  That's what happens when you fight through the rejection -- your strikeouts turn into home runs, your day job becomes a dream job.

Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt the sting of rejection?  How did you handle it?  Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.