Rejection. Part 4.

Last week, I got the chance to attend another author event! This time for an author I deeply admire, and whose work I’ve been reading for quite some time. 

During the discussion and Q&A portion, one of things she said was that in order to be a writer, you really have to have faith and believe in yourself and in what you are writing. If you don’t have that belief in your story and why you are the one who needs to tell it, then what’s the point?

She also said that it’s easy to want to give up–and that honestly, it’s okay to give up. As long as you only give up for the day and come back to it tomorrow.

Overall, it was a really encouraging discussion, and she and the moderator talked a lot about the querying process. Both had wildly different experiences. The moderator ended up writing and querying four books before she managed to land an agent and sell what became her debut novel.

The only downside to the event (other than driving through what felt like the worst part of St. Louis) was that as I was waiting in line to get my book signed, my author email* pinged with a notification.

I had finally heard back from one of the agents I was really excited about!

It was a rejection.

Again.

The encouragement I had been feeling suddenly winked out, and in its place, doubt settled in.

Over the last week, the rejections have just kept pouring in–and another one was from an agent I really thought I had a chance with.

From those two agents, I got a little bit more than the standard form rejection, but these rejections were ultimately still form letters that couldn’t tell me much about why they rejected it. One mentioned not being immediately immersed in the story from the first chapter, but that’s a subjective opinion, and in my experience, not a reason to rewrite my entire first chapter.

Publishing is a long process–and one full of disappointment. There’s a lot of waiting, just to be told, “Sorry, this isn’t a good fit.”

I see why a lot of writers give up, and I see why a lot of people choose to self publish, instead of taking the traditional publishing path. It’s rough out here, y’all. Battling self doubt is not something that I have historically been very good at.

This blog is a place of transparency, and so it would feel a little dishonest if I didn’t confess that this week has me feeling discouraged. If I haven’t wondered if all these closed doors mean that maybe Veritas isn’t actually The Debut. If maybe I do need to revise my beginning chapters to give them more of a hook. If I need to hurry up and get back to work on my fantasy book so that I have something else to query in a couple years.

But notice how one of those “ifs” isn’t: If I need to quit writing altogether. 

I’m an optimist at heart, and this industry is all about perseverance. So, even through all of my discouragement and disappointment, I am choosing to persevere. I’m choosing to have faith, and to trust that these rejections are all just paving my path to publication. Each “no” is bringing me closer to that “yes” that is going to change everything.

Current Query Stats 
Agents Pitched: 37
Confirmed Rejections: 17
No Response, Assumed Rejection: 5
Waiting to Hear From: 15
Partial/full requests: 3

*Yes, I created an entirely separate email account for all of my querying notifications, and hopefully one day to keep all my author correspondence separate from my personal email.