For Crying @TamaraOutLoud

Tamara Lunardo, of Tamara Out Loud fame, recently put out a call for folks to send submissions to guest post over at her blog recently.  If you don’t know Tamara, follow her on Twitter, like her Facebook page, or read her blog, check it out.  However, I will caution you to be careful if you are uptight or easily offended.  What she writes is honest and her style won’t sit well with many normal church-going folks.  So you’ve been warned.

I quickly hammered out a piece and sent to her.  I sat back and waited to hear from her.  And waited.  And waited.  On Friday, she sent out notifications to all of us who submitted our pieces to her.  How did I fare?

I was rejected.  Told no.  You know, the “Thank you for submitting.  I can’t use it now.”  kind of email.  How did I react?

I could have reacted several different ways.  I could have been upset.  I could have been angry.  Instead, this was my reaction.

Relief.  A big “Schwewwwww!!!!”  I felt like I dodged a bullet.

On Saturday, I messed with Tamara for an hour or so about not being selected.  I told her that I was going to write this post.  I think she worried about it for a while.  She may still be worried as I write this, for all I know.  She shouldn’t be.

I need to thank her.

You see, Tamara, without realizing it, taught me some great lessons through this process.  Let me share them.

Generic

The post that I sent her was not my best work.  The post was blah.  It was boring.  It didn’t fit what she wanted.  It contained a thought that I had been mulling over, but it was really just filler.  I should have taken my time and spent more time before I sent it to her.  I rushed it.

Passion

The post that I sent her didn’t have it.  Passion, that is.  It didn’t have any heart.  It didn’t have, quite honestly, me in it.  Not that having me is important.  But anyone could have written what I wrote.  It didn’t contain one of the things that I think make blogs great.  It didn’t have the heart, soul and passion of the writer.  It didn’t have me in it.

Empowerment

The piece I wrote was about empowerment.  I had been wanting to write a post about empowerment.  That’s what I did.  And it stunk.  Almost immediately, I regretted sending it to her.  I quickly began plotting what this post would be like when she did not choose my original.

Tamara empowered a bunch of people, including me,  to write guest post submissions.  She empowered other bloggers to be creative.  She empowered me, by not choosing my post, to write this one.

When it comes down to it, Tamara taught me to not write generic posts.  She taught me to write with my own passion.  She empowered me to do better.  This is what I think the body of Christ does.  It stimulates each other to love.  It stimulates each other to good deeds.  It stimulates each other to better blogging.

For crying @TamaraOutLoud, Thanks!!!!  Thank you, Tamara Lunardo.

Has anyone ever rejected you resulting in something positive?