Many of you recently attended the ACFW annual conference in Indianapolis. Those who did pinned hopes on getting some sort of exciting news or opportunity. MBT Voices overall received overwhelmingly positive news. So why am I writing this? Because with the sweet comes the bitter. They always go hand in hand.

I’ve dealt with and helped people through disappointment for decades. There are some things I’ve seen in the circumstance that contributes to the emotion of disappointment that I want to share.

Having Unrealistic Expectations. Truly there are novice novelists who go to their first conference expecting that the biggest publishers in the industry will stand in line to snatch up their masterpiece…that hasn’t quite been finished. Ok, it really hasn’t been written yet, but with a contract in hand, they could stay up late one night and write it.

Umm… no.

Pinning Their Hopes on Only One Outcome. Some writers go with only one goal to determine whether or not they walk away successful. For example, a three book contract is the bar they set for themselves and nothing short of that will measure up.

Viewing Constructive Feedback as Failure. I’ve seen it over and over. Writers say they want feedback to improve but when they are provided with that information, it crushes them. Why? They said they wanted the feedback but in reality, either knowingly or unknowingly what they really desired was to have the reviewer gush over their work. They wanted someone to say, “That’s the greatest string of words on the planet!”

Dealing with disappointment AND using it to move forward is a challenge but it is well worth the effort. Most people’s GREATEST achievements have come on the heels of the most plummeting disappointments. Here’s why:

They ground us. It is our safety net that prevents us from keeping our head in the clouds.

They ignite us. We dig in our heels and determine to make it better.

Been disappointed lately? Take it and use it to make YOU and YOUR WRITING the best it can possibly be. You can do it!