Chocolate from John Loo
This topic is rarely touched upon when writers are seeking representation or a publisher. A case in point, I wrote about rejection last year and only one person responded to the blog post. However, it’s a topic that touches all of us at one time or another. So how did I cope?
Firstly, as I read a rejection letter or email I would feel despondent and low in mood for a short period of time. I never cried and I was over the negative feelings by the following day. But it did knock my confidence, even though I knew rejection was part of the writer’s journey. A bit of chocolate also helped – for medicinal purposes only, you understand.
I would send out more query letters, perhaps amending them slightly, but after receiving say 5-7 rejections for one novel, I would shelve it and begin a new novel. I had quite a library after a while! When a received encouraging feedback from several agents, I would take their comments on board and work accordingly.
I never stopped writing, even when at times I doubted my abilities. I read countless books and observed how the author engaged the reader. I noted what worked and what didn’t work.
I never threw work away. For example, I had this novel wrote about two years ago, which a couple of agents had told me was ‘nearly there’. I felt passionate about the story, and so once I had a publisher, I decided to edit it once more before sending a synopsis to them. To my utter delight, they are publishing it next Feb! My point is, you may have already written a publishable book, but you may not have found the right person to appreciate it. So don’t toss rejected novels in the bin. Keep them, use parts of them, re-write them, editing them further, in other words, keep working until you have something truly special on your hands. You will get there eventually.
Happy Word Flow One & All
Hemmie Martin 
It's even more “fun” when you mostly submit short stories, so you have ten or eleven chances at rejection floating around at any one time.
Courage.
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Hemmie!
You inspire me to go even further. I sometimes get discouraged, but after reading this post, I am going to continue on my path.
Love and light
Kim
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Oh yes, Rob, short stories do increase the rejections. Fortunately, I've stopped writing these as I'm too verbose. Rejections make us stronger eh?
Lovely to hear from you.
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So pleased this has helped you in this way, Kim. If we talked about this more, maybe we'd cope better knowing that everyone else was going through the same thing.
Keep strong.
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