Joy in Rejection
Maybe.
Look at those sad little faces. I’ve put out 11 queries since the end of June and received 7 rejections. Each one was a little jab in the gut, with my imposter syndrome ready int he wings to finish the job.
But! I will persevere. I can’t get published if I don’t try to get published and trying to get published means sending queries that might get rejections.
Here’s an email I received just this week. Most rejections are similar, some more personal, some less:
Thank you so much for the opportunity to consider WARRIOR OF THE DUSK. While there were elements of your pitch that I enjoyed, in the end, I do not have the enthusiasm for this project to be the right person to champion it forward. Please keep in mind that publishing is highly subjective, so what doesn't work for me will work for someone else. Keep querying and writing, and I believe you will find every success in your publishing journey.
Maybe this is what this agent sends to every person they reject. Maybe they did read the materials and were intrigued, but not enough to take on the project. Art is in the eye of the beholder, after all, and writing is a form of art.
Some days, I am positive and motivated and take rejections in stride. Some days, I get a little salty and they feel like rejections of me as a person. On those days, I try to remind myself that there are books I don’t like. I read the first few chapters and go ugh and send it back to the library. Someone fretted over that plot and those characters and struggled to get an agent and all the same things I’m experiencing.
You hear all the stories about how powerhouse authors and poets were rejected X number of times before their big break. Or how a book languishes on someone’s back list for decades before being brought into the spotlight.
Rejections are okay and in fact show that I am trying. I am taking risks. I am putting myself out there to try to make something great. Even if it makes me grumpy at the same time.
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Seriously I love this on a level I can’t articulate, but this is why you are so awesome. Because you do. You want to do something that’s hard, then you do it and see. I want to be more like that. And instead of vulnerability, I see strength.
Although, I tried to knee board this last week, out of my comfort zone, and that was a real failure, but I felt actually pretty proud of my chubby self for trying in front of all the cool kids.
IDK if this will make you feel better or worse, but my last novel was rejected by over 50 publishers and I still somehow make six-figures a year as a writer. So, publishing is weird.