Not the spot, but close!
Years ago my son, Andrew, did a pencil study of his favorite place for his high school art class. He captured his fishing spot at his grandfather’s, where he sat under the willow that leaned out over the pond and caught bream and catfish, as clearly as any black and white photograph. The drawing was stunning.
We were upset when his teacher returned it with a C. Sure, we felt like it was an A… but she told him, “Trees don’t lean.”
In Arkansas, you can’t drive down a country road without seeing leaning trees. In Texas, desert Mesquites lean in groves, bent by prevailing winds. I’ll bet you know where there’s a tree that lists a little. Indeed, there’s even a greeting card company called Leaning Tree. Wonder where they got that idea? Some of them lean because of being twisted and pushed over in storms, but …they are leaning!
Of course we took photographic evidence the next time we visited the farm, but by then Andrew was not inclined to make his point. Me? I would have camped out on her doorstep.
Even experts can be wrong. Don’t just take someone else’s word for it. If it doesn’t seem right, or you have evidence to the 
contrary, speak up. Ask questions. Investigate. You have to choose your battles…but still, you want to uphold your integrity.
How often have you made all the changes in your work that others suggested, and felt that they sucked the life out of it? That it didn’t end up telling the story you intended? I often seek second/third/fourth opinions. If I get the same response several times, I consider their comments. But I make the decision on what changes to make, and what to keep. In the end, I have to be true to my writing.
You see, there are no real answers to what makes good art – whether it’s a story, or picture, or song, or whatever. Listen to the critics. Consider what they are saying as a way to improve your craft. But follow your own intuition, too. Andrew could have drawn a straight tree…but the picture wouldn’t have been his fishing spot.
Think of all the famous writers that got rejected over and over and over again before someone picked up their manuscript and it became a best seller. Remember – they were rejected by experts! Check out these excerpts from REAL famous author rejections (Pulled from http://writersrelief.com/blog/2011/07/famous-author-rejection-letters/) :
- Sylvia Plath: There certainly isn’t enough genuine talent for us to take notice.
- Rudyard Kipling: I’m sorry Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.
- J. G. Ballard: The author of this book is beyond psychiatric help.
- Emily Dickinson: [Your poems] are quite as remarkable for defects as for beauties and are generally devoid of true poetical qualities.
- Ernest Hemingway (regarding The Torrents of Spring): It would be extremely rotten taste, to say nothing of being horribly cruel, should we want to publish it.
And e.e.cummings’ first book was rejected 15 times before being accepted for publication. He dedicated it to the 15 publishers who rejected him.
I like his style.
e.e.cummings
Andrew’s teacher reminds me of my son’s kindergarten teacher the day he colored the grapes on his page, green. –the color of the seedless grapes I always served. He came home with a low mark on his page and said to me, “Mama, grapes are green, aren’t they? My teacher said they are purple.”
My last rejection for my was a doozie! It was from a Christian publisher, but the malice in the rejection was tangible. I guess something in my manuscript hit a nerve. But it helped me in two areas. I realized I am not a writer of “Christian” books, rather a Christian who writes. I cannot get with the varied formulas. The other is that when speaking, her rejection is wonderful to read. It gives some comic relief and produces astonished chuckles. AND should my book be published by a general market publisher, it will be even more fun to read!
Ah, yes, revenge will be sweet. It’s also nice to know that someone else struggles with being ‘niched’, or finding what niche they fit in. I have a really NICE rejection from an editor who, six months after I received it, printed a piece under her own byline that was almost identical. Coincidence? I never submitted to that place again. Thanks for the comment!
Thank you for this post. I needed this reminder today. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tree that wasn’t leaning. Van Gogh only sold one painting when he was alive…
Good story. And bless Andrew’s heart! The teacher sounds like she wouldn’t have changed her mind even if you showed her proof. You have to pity those who have only straight trees in their lives.
I’m stunned to think anyone would believe that trees do not lean. Where was this teacher? In New York City? But even there in Central Park, trees lean! And that is what gave Andrew’s drawing character! I once wrote a devo about a tree growing sideways our of our mountainside–as one travels into Heber Springs. The analogy? How a man with great faith hung on just as this tree did for many years–blooming, leafing, and clutching the bit of earth with its roots! The piece that won first place in 2012 at White County Writers Conference? My daughter told me to add some qualifying information. It took away from what I was telling–and I did not. At least Rhonda Roberts liked it! (she judged the contest) I agree with your post!
Really enjoyed this post. It’s a good reminder for us to remain true to ourselves and our stories. I’d like to see that picture. I hope you have it framed and hanging somewhere.