News: This is my 100th post. There have been about the same number of comments. And some time over the holidays while I wasn’t looking, the blog went over 2000 views.
Now on to today’s topic: rejection. It’s something we’re all going to have to deal with. The only way to avoid it is to never send your work out and that just guarantees that no one will ever see it or publish it. So, you have to take the risk.
Earlier this week, I started sending out the very first queries on MAGE STORM. Five queries have gone out and one rejection has already come back. That’s not totally unexpected. There can be all kinds of reasons for it and agents don’t usually stop to tell you exactly why.
But that’s not what this post is about. It’s about the freeing nature of that first rejection. (Now, this isn’t my first rejection. Just the first for MAGE STORM.) When you first send the queries out into the world, you’re a little bit on pins and needles, even though you know that realistically it could be weeks before you hear anything back, if you ever do. Some agents only reply if they’re interested.
Then that first rejection comes back. It’s disappointing. It stings. But then you realize that you’re still standing, still writing. That you still believe in your story. And you compose another version of the query letter and send it right back out.
The worst is over. It may be an uphill battle, but at least from here it is all uphill. Well, mostly, anyway.
And think how much stronger we are after a rejection than all those wimpy writers who never got rejected? (Not that I know any….)
Besides. If no one rejects our brilliant books, who will we say “I told you so” to when we go on Oprah?
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Well, I think Oprah is going to be off the air by then. But, yeah. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
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Wouldn’t that be awesome-Oprah promoting a SF/F title?
Actually, even though they sting (and stink) rejections can be good for you. The last 3 or 4 I got where of the “encouraging” type. Bittersweet feeling.
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I totally agree with you about the freeing nature of the first rejection. Foste, you were lucky to get encouraging rejections. I like the few that include suggestions on how to make your story stronger. It is one long journey to being published. You just have to keep walking up that hill.
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Thanks. Sometimes that hill seems a little steeper. Right now, it’s feeling just a little bit less steep. Hope it stays that way.
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