Thank you Weezer

I know this doesn’t sound very Thanksgiving-ie, but I wrote it last week. So next Thursday’s post will sound very thankful. Thanks for understanding. Oh and Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble, gobble.

If you haven’t heard the new song, Pork and Beans, by the rock band Weezer, you’re missing out (and the YouTube video is a hoot).
“What?” you say, “does Weezer have anything to do with writing?” I will tell you, but first I want to contemplate rejection.

Did you know that Stephen King got so many rejection letters that he nailed them on a spike under a board in his bedroom?[1] When he tried to get Carrie published, the publisher said, “We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell.”[2]
Dr. Seuss’s work was rejected over fifteen times before he found an editor to look at his work.[3]
Madeleine L’Engle was rejected by twenty-six publishers before A Wrinkle in Time was picked up. It is in it’s sixty-ninth printing.[4]
J.K. Rowling was rejected by nine publishers for Harry Potter.[5] Nine times!!!!
Rick Walton writes one-hundred children books a year, only to get a handful published.[6]

What does this mean? Anyone who is in the writing field or publishing field will tell you, rejection is a part of writing. It is at every turn. Critique groups, publishers, editors, …the list goes on and on. But take heart you are not alone!

This brings me back to Weezer. Weezer was working with a label who wanted them to write catchier songs, make themselves more marketable (according to them), and rejected many of the songs they had been working on.[7] Weezer left the label and, with the inspiration of the meeting that day, wrote the hit Pork and Beans. Their video had 3.5 million views before even appearing on MTV.[8]

My favorite line in the song is:
“One look in the mirror and I’m tickled pink,
I don’t give a hoot about what you think.”

So, when that next rejection letter comes, grab your pint of ice cream, take a look in that mirror, and remember it doesn’t matter what they say, you will make it! Remember that persistence thing last week?

Oh and one last thought, if you have heard the song, candy does not taste good in pork and beans! Tried it. Just made it crunchy.

Footnotes:

[1] www.lulu.com/static/pr/9_26_05.php
[2] www.debbieohi.com/personal/rejections.html
[3] www.CollegeAndUniversity.net & www.debbieohi.com/personal/rejections.html
[4] www.debbieohi.com/personal/rejections.html
[5] www.debbieohi.com/personal/rejections.html
[6] Told to us at a writer’s conference. Hey, you wanted to know. =)
[7] www.nme.com/news/weezer/36334
[8] http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/05/director-behind.html