Hello, writers.
Have you ever gotten a form rejection? Or, like, several hundred of them?
Something along the lines of:
Dear Author,
Thank you very much for considering us. In this highly competitive market, we have to be extremely careful about what we take on, and I’m afraid your manuscript just isn’t right for us. We wish you good luck in placing it elsewhere.
Sincerely,
Simeon T. Bigg*
*Not a real person.
It can be tempting to think that it’s a judgment on your writing and that you’re just not good enough.
But when you’re holding your first published book, and it’s been raved about by your editor and you’ve got the third of your three advance checks in the bank, and it’s a tidy revision of the same exact book that got a hundred callous form rejections-- well, then you’ll realize that form rejections don’t mean a damn thing about you or your writing.
But it can be very hard not to answer them, all the same. (NB—you shouldn’t answer them.)
So tonight’s challenge is just a little catharsis....
Imagine that you got the above rejection letter from a rather tardy agent for a book that’s already published. (Oh yes, this does happen.)
Imagine, if you like, that it’s for your current WIP. Or it can be for The Jewel of Togwogmagog, a fantasy action adventure with dragons, lawyers and weasels.
Write Mr. Bigg a little note.
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