Pressing On Towards The End of the Longest Month Ever by Allison Symes

Image Credits:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images.

If you haven’t read Mnemonic by the wonderful Brian Bilston, I highly recommend it. It is his take on what seems to be the longest month - January. I guess it doesn’t help we’re still well into winter, the evenings still draw in much earlier than we’d like, and there is less natural light around (though things will be getting better on that front by the time this post goes out).

 

So we press on towards the fact even January must end and spring will come. It is a matter of time. Hands up, anyone who finds it easy to be patient. I’m not raising my hands, by the way. 

But pressing on and being patient are crucial parts of both our Christian lives and our writing ones. I know. Logically, with time, we should be getting better at both, right? We’ve got all of that experience of our spiritual lives and writing ones under our belt, right? 

Hmm… I am very much a work in progress on both fronts, but I find the thought we are meant to press on, things are not all neat and tidy, is encouraging because I know that applies to everyone. There is some comfort to be had here along with the biggest comfort of all, we are not alone. 

The older I get (and I reach a significant birthday later this year), the more I appreciate how vital it is Jesus knows what it is to be human.

Also in pressing on, we are more likely to make progress with our writing than if we just stay still. Setbacks and rejections are all part of the writing journey and, I think, over time you do get better at accepting this. 

Also take heart from the thought if you are submitting work, yes, you will get the setbacks, but you are in with the chances of receiving acceptances too. The latter inevitably takes longer than you’d like.

Even when acceptances come, even when you are a published author, setbacks still happen. I wrote regularly for a wonderful flash fiction site which sadly shut up shop at the end of 2025. Time to find another market then. But pressing on here makes it more likely I will find somewhere eventually.

There are ups and downs in the writing life, always. One of my “ups” later this year will be the publication of my third flash fiction collection. However, I suspect before then I would have had my fair share of story rejections. Mind you, I have had the scenario often where I’ve looked at a piece that didn’t make it, worked on it again, sent it somewhere else and then had it accepted. I pressed on.

As writers and ACW members, we have the mutual support of each other. We press on together. We may be on different writing journeys but there will be things we have in common. That is always worth celebrating.