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Rejections. They’re horrible. Gut wrenching. Devastating.
And reading them is a complete waste of your energy.
Or is it?
Sure, when you first get
your rejection letter, describing in detail what’s wrong with
your heroine, your plot, your writing style, your hairstyle;
your first reaction is to go face down in a gallon of Moose
Tracks ice cream and come out five hours later.
But here’s the trick:
give yourself time to throw your tantrum. Get it out of your
system. Drink your red wine, eat your chocolate (or even
better, dip the chocolate in the red wine), stomp around the
house, throw darts at the publisher’s website, yes, even shout
back at the letter if you have to.
Whew, once that’s over, play a
game of “a friend of mine just got this letter and I need to
help her learn from it.”
I’m not kidding.
And no, I’m not drunk.
With a fresh, objective eye,
read it again, considering each criticism as a lesson. These
rejections are all your teachers, sharing insight that will make
you a better writer. That said, please disregard the letters
that include comments like “you shouldn’t waste anymore trees by
trying to write.” I call these “diseased” and they need to be
destroyed so the disease won’t spread.
Onto a few lessons I’ve learned
from rejections.
Lesson one: When an
editor says “There’s not enough conflict in your story” guess
what? There’s probably not enough conflict in your story.
Remember, no conflict, no story. Nada. Nothing. Conflict is,
in my opinion, the pulse that keeps your story beating. A great
reference book on conflict is Deb Dixon’s “Goal, Motivation, and
Conflict.” (http://www.debradixon.com)
Lesson Two:
When an editor writes, “I’d be happy to accept submissions from
you in the future” she is not kidding and you’d better send her
something else. Honest. Editors don’t have time to be nice and
make friends with Amanda Author. They recognize something they
like when they see it. If they see it in your voice, and ask
for it again, send something.
Lesson Three:
Don’t take it personally. HA! You knew that was coming.
Publishing is a business and the goal is to make money. An
editor wants to buy authors who are going to sell lots of
books and make the publisher lots of money. Simple.
You may not have what they think will sell this month, but six
months down the line, your writing will be that much better and
the tide may have changed and they’re suddenly looking for books
like yours.
Accept rejections as road
signs directing you to your ultimate destination: publication!
Copyright 2006, Pat White Books |
