The Rejection Garden Tree/Story 19 DRAGON MOUNTAIN

The Rejection Garden is less about rejection, 

and more about creativity, persistence, and joy. 

Over the next month, I am going to share one Tree or Manuscript with you, not in its entirety, 

instead, I’ll post a synopsis, how many times it has been rejected, and then, 

I’ll finish with my favorite line and include a picture of the tree and name tag.

"Rejected pieces aren't failures; unwritten pieces are." 

-Greg Daugherty

4 submissions (2015), 4 rejections (new version never submitted)

    Growing up in Alaska, surrounded by the all-impressive presence of NATURE, yes, in all CAPS, was inspiring and daunting. But as a child with an overactive visual imagination... I saw so many cool things (whether they were actually there or not), one of these things- Dragons. I saw them everywhere, in the hills, the mountains, hiding inside forests. So, one day I wrote a story about it from the POV of a sleepy child in a car, traveling into the night, with the light fading and mountains passing by the window. In a wink, she sees what the mountain really is, a sleeping dragon.

Favorite line: The first page really brings the reader in with its lyrical tone and warmth. I adore it but I also adore a reply.

"Cozy, 

I dream, 

tucked under velvet night

as the hum of wheels rolling over pavement muffle the miles

that swoop and sway us toward our home."

And the reply?

"I see it too," Daddy says, his eyes in a wink of s smile reflecting back at me in the mirror."

     I have not given up on this piece, it has a humm, a magical rhythm to it that feels like home to me, so maybe someday I will rework it, again, and send it out, again.

    This is the second the last #rejectiongarden tree...  But, as you, kind reader, know by now it won't be THE LAST.  Just a momentary pause as I order more tags, plant more trees and write more stories. One more to go. Until tomorrow.