Dealing with Rejection

No, I didn't suddenly turn this into a dating blog.  Actually, seeing as I've been with the same guy since I was seventeen, this wouldn't be that great of a dating blog.  I'm talking about literary rejection.  I've had a, um, rough week.  Nothing life-threatening.  Just one of those blue weeks where everything seems to pile up.  Among other things, I faced not one, but two literary rejections.  My novella and novel were both passed on--very nicely, though.  And, although you're told as an aspiring writer that this stuff happens, it still stings.  So what's an author to do?  Honestly, to get out of the rejection dejection I recommend looking to three different sources: honesty, inspiration, and hope.

The first one, honesty, is the hardest.  Also, before I go into this, I mean real honesty.  Don't despair and tell yourself that your work is crap after only one rejection.  Hell, don't even do it for ten.  As long as it is your dream to work as an author, then you keep pushing on.  But, face some realities.  First, it might take a while.  Second, maybe your work needs some touching up.  Thirdly, did you aim for the right audience?  Let me explain a bit here.  My novel, Ash, was rejected by an open door submission.  Yes, again, it stings, but... they had had it since December.  That's about nine months, give or take a day.  If you have any kind of realist in you--and, whether you write for fantasy or not, you should have a little--you are still going to be thinking about the novel you submitted.  In my case, I thought of two things nearly constantly.  One, scenes where I could spruce up dialogue or description despite my edits.  Two, the audience my book was intended for.  I sent it to a sub that was asking for Sci-Fi/Fantasy adult novels.  And, the more I thought about it, the more I read in the age group, the more I realized... My book is Young Adult.  I didn't set out to write it that way.  It's just how it happened.  I missed the mark on that one.  But you know what?  This gave me a clarity on what to do next.  Honesty helps in all aspects of life.

Next was inspiration.  I looked to authors who were either super freakin' famous, meant something to me, or both.  Let me tell you something right now... every author has been rejected at least once.  Every.  Author.  In fact, in my research for this post to gain exact numbers, I was floored to learn that The Diary of Anne Frank was rejected a whoopin' fifteen times!  Now, that doesn't really make my list of favorites, I just found it fascinating.  This was a firsthand account of what it was like to be Jewish in the world of Hitler's Germany... and fifteen publishers said, "No, thanks."  And that's nothing to the authors I intentionally searched for.  JK Rowling--of superstar Harry Potter fame--was rejected twelve times for Philosopher's Stone.  Now, she rides the line between billionaire and not, depending on her charitable givings.  Madeline L'Engle, who wrote the wonderful A Wrinkle in Time, a book I've always loved, was rejected twenty-six times.  And finally, Stephen King--Emperor of Horror--was rejected THIRTY times for his debut novel, Carrie.  Thirty times.  Now me, personally, I see this, and I think one thing: I can still do this.

Lastly, hope.  We're digging in the bottom of Pandora's Box here.  But I have hope, and you should too.  I mean, did you read that all caps up there?  Thirty times.  I'm not even asking to be that famous.  I just want a career.  And because of my honesty, I have a direct course of action: re-read, spruce, find agent.  I have hope because I'm willing to put in the work.  It is work, too; don't be mistaken.  So, I'll end this blog here, because I do have work to do.  Have hope.  Keep pushing.  Dreams are worth fighting for, and I don't intend to stop.

See you all next Thursday!