The sun on my face

I have worked hard,
Focusing solely on achieving goals
Too afraid to look up;
Too afraid to stare failure in the face.
Never feeling
The sun on my face.

Writing endlessly
Too afraid to submit
Too afraid of rejection
Hoping to get good enough
To be published.... someday.

Too afraid to see
The foundation being laid
To build a writing career.
Too afraid to feel
The hail and rain of rejection
Instead of the sun of acceptance
Warming my face.

“Bang!”
The fruit of my labour hit me on the head.
I couldn’t help but look up
Despite the fear of rejection.
A warm rain of acceptance,
From editors and readers
Taking me places
I didn’t even dream of going.

The writing journey is still long
Hard work and perseverance is needed.
But this morning
I am looking up, without fear.
The sun warming up my face
It’s a wonderful feeling.

It's worth the blood, sweat and blows
writing endlessly
Taking the blows of rejection on the chin
When I look up.

I wrote this poem the day I found out I had been nominated for an award. I hope it encourages other writers to persevere. I have a sneaky feeling i'm a seriously bad poet, and I realise is no form or structure to this poem, but I felt it was an appropriate form of self-expression in this particular instance.
Sam