How to Handle Another Rejection

This morning, I get another rejection for this one novel that I just loved writing. I thought it was so clever, so unique, so compelling.  I wanted everybody to read it. 

I cry and cry.  My children come around me and the little one says, “Mom, you should just write children’s stories.  You’re so good at making stories for us.”  And then the oldest one says, “You know it takes years to get a book published.”  She’s licking a popsicle and nodding her head.  She actually pats me on the back.

Here, have a lick. 

My wise neighbor (the one who danced in the kitchen with me) tells me:  “Don’t you dare say that you got a rejection letter.  It’s a revision letter.  Rejections are opportunities for revision.” 

And my husband (the one who said, “Just because there’s space doesn’t mean you have to fill it) says:  “Don’t you remember what Jack Nicholson said when he won his Oscar?”

He said, “I’d like to thank my agent who ten years ago said I had no business being an actor.”

I would like to thank my agent.  The more I survive “revision letters” the more I get to the heart of why I write at all.  I just have to, and I’ll revise until I get it right.  Living with flair means I learn the art of revision. 

Re-vision: seeing again, seeing new, seeing differently.

Isn’t that the core of living with flair?  In small ways and large ways I’ll take a fresh look and reshape, not just my novel, but everything that makes up the narrative of my life.  When it feels like rejection, I’ll take another look.

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  2. Don't give up! I always think of this quote – it's one of my favorites.

    “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Thomas Edison

  4. I got a rejection letter awhile back for a children's book I wrote. I was really bummed at first, but then I thought that having been through the process of submitting a manuscript and getting a rejection made me a real writer! 🙂 And a friend of mine said that in order to reject my book, someone had to read it. So whether your work is getting accepted or not, it's out there being read by publishers. I thought that was a positive way to look at it! Hang in there and good luck! 🙂

  5. Just wondering how things are a matter of perspective. You are feeling disappointed about a rejection letter and I am wondering if I would ever be able to figure out how to begin writing and complete a book. :o)

    One point I am not clear about. If you wrote the book with 'love' and which you thought was compelling, wouldnt 'revising' it change the initial target audience?