Of Course it Hurts

Yesterday, I had the unique privilege of tattooing my husband. I'm sure there are plenty of wives out there who would kill for love to have the opportunity to do this to their beloved spouses. For all the times the laundry didn't make it into the basket. For all the dishes left in the sink. For the countless hours said spouse has spent in front of the television instead of vacuuming. You could have all your revenge fantasies fulfilled in under two hours! Think of the possibilities...

Alas, no matter how often my darling infuriates me, I cannot bear to see him in pain. I actually have to disconnect myself from his suffering in order to perform the task at hand. Which, last night, was a huge tattoo on his side.

He grunted, he groaned, he used several curse words to address the situation. But, he survived. The tattoo looks great too.

This morning, I received a rejection on one of my submissions and it made me again see the similarities between tattooing and writing.

Both of those paths require dedication, hard work, and lots of cursing along the way. When I first started my tattoo apprenticeship, I would get so frustrated and infuriated that I wanted to throw in the towel on MANY occasions. I didn't. I kept my goals in sight, kept my chin up, and persevered.

And although it hurts sometimes to learn an art like tattooing, I refused to be denied. I intend on maintaining the same attitude where writing is concerned.

As for getting tattooed...

YES it hurts. There are needles creating about 1000 holes per minute on the surface of your skin, effectively removing the entire top layer which feels like a 2nd degree burn, but you are left with something amazing as a result.

And rejections?

I grunted, I groaned, and I used some very effective cursing to address the situation.

Yes, rejections hurt too. But in the end, you might end up with something amazing.