If you've ever read Stephen King's On Writing, there's a great part where he talks about his early rejections. Yeh..he was like eleven years old at the time, but the image of a writer, sitting in front of their typewriter with letters pasted on the wall around him, was a strong one. Those letters? His rejections. His motivation.
So when you get a rejection letter, what do you do with it? Do you trash it and your story? Or does it make you more determined than ever to keep going, keep trying, until you see your work in print?
Nobody likes receiving a rejection letter. You've put so much time, so much sweat into your masterpiece that its hard to believe that its not wanted. But there's a magic to them that is often overlooked.
Each and every one of these letters that you receive is validation that someone, somewhere is acknowledging that you are in fact a writer. Some are the standard form letters, some are encouraging. Others may even be personal; trying to help you understand what you need to change so that the rejections will stop coming.
So here's what I do when I start getting smothered to death in "I'm sorry's" or "We regret..":
First, take a look at your query letter. Does it meet professional standards? Can you change your hook to make it grab the reader?
Second, make sure that the agents or publications that you are sending it to are interested in your work. Or look to your writing and see if it could be considered another genre.
Third, keep writing..keep sending...Even if they say no, you're learning with each and every one of them. And hey, what's better than someone taking you serious at your craft, right??
XOXO
Cyn
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