Failure? by al_the_chia |  |
You write a perfectly nice story for The Neopian Times. You’ve looked over
it a thousand times, edited and reedited it a thousand times, and overall, you
think you did a pretty darn good job. Humming happily, you send it to the times,
certain you’ll get in this time. “Oh, they’ll love it!” You think, imagining
a golden feather quill and parchment in your trophy case. “I’ll be the best,
most well known writer in Neopia, even better than the NeoPets Staff!” And you
wait. And wait. And wait again. Suddenly, a letter appears in your e-mail account.
Hopefully, you open it, and discover a response:
Dear Writer,
Thanks for submitting your work to The Neopian Times. Just to let you know,
we get a lot of submissions per day and are working very hard to read them all,
so please be patient. In the meantime, why don't you read some of the past issues
to catch up on all the great stories, tips and awesome comics sent in by users
like you?!?! Or explore the site for some more great ideas to write about!
Thanks,
The NeoPets Team
“THEY LOVED IT!!” You gush. If they had taken the trouble to send a response,
it MUST have gotten in! You hop around the house, hug mom and dad, twirl around
a few times. “I’M IN!! I’M IN!! I’M SURE OF IT!!” The Neopian Times will come
out next Friday! And today is… Saturday! You are beaming with pride, you just
know your article is in! On Sunday, you call all your friends and tell them
that your in, and that they should look for your article. On Monday, you sit
through school, anxiously awaiting the time where you can go back home and log
onto NeoPets to brag about your brilliant article that took up months of your
time. On Tuesday, you do your homework, accidentally writing ‘Neopian Times’
instead of ‘The Revolutionary War’ on your history quiz. On Wednesday, you begin
to write a sequel to your marvelous piece of artwork, thinking how much praise
you will receive for the first. On Thursday, all you can do is wait for Friday
to roll around. Finally, the big day comes. You sit at the computer, refreshing
the news section over and over, until it finally shows on the screen:
NEW NEOPIAN TIMES!- Jam packed with your articles, stories, and comics!
“IT’S HERE!!” You bellow. You immediately open it up and click on ‘Short Stories.’
You pause. “Hm…” Nothing on the top of the page. Just some story about a Fire
Lupe in a Cowboy Hat and something about a Zack Fuzzle character. You scroll
down a bit. ‘Faerie Tales Transcribed’ and a sappy adoption story. Feeling a
surge of dread, you scroll down a little more. A long, dragging story about
a Shoyru quest for some kind of jewel and a short about a transmogrified pet
becoming a beautiful Faerie. Finally, you reach the bottom. You gasp. Sitting
there is a story about Punchbag Bob. Nothing. You release a hoarse moan. You
practically melt in your chair. How could they? you think. How could
they not love my perfect story? You reread it. It looks fine to you… I
should have asked someone's opinion, you think. You read it over again.
Suddenly, it looks crude and badly written. You begin to think the plot is terrible,
and the wording is all wrong. You notice every single flaw that didn’t even
cross your mind when you wrote it. I can’t believe I expected this, THIS piece
of illiterate junk, to even pass the editor’s inspection. You don’t bother to
read anything else. Depressed and dejected, you turn off the computer and leave.
You are so depressed you barely bother to go onto NeoPets anymore. You log
on one foggy Friday evening, deciding to look over The Neopian Times. You click
on the ‘Short Stories’ section, anxious for a good read. You stop dead. No
way, you think. Sitting at the top of the page is the story that you thought
was rejected earlier. |
