Tag Archives: dealing with rejection

Rejection’s Not the End of Your World Unless You Let It Be

By Posted in 2009 Deb Interview Series, Writing: The Process Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

Warning! Warning! Second post of the week in which I get all mushy!

 

Awhile back I interviewed Mandy Hubbard (debut author of Prada and Prejudice) as part of the 2009 Debutante Author Interview series. I already frequented her blog, but several commenters mentioned reading her “Road to Publication” posts. Well, if y’all don’t know, Mandy had a pretty long road to publication, so I was really curious to read how her experience was. I mean, how often does a writer really outline the rejections as she gets them? Answer: not often.

So anyway, I decided to wait until I went on submission as sort of a treat, food for the “on submission soul,” I guess. Of course, with all sorts of other things swishing around in my head, I forgot it until I’d been on submission for a couple weeks. As soon as I remembered, I opened up the Road to Publication posts in a new window. First thing I read was this:

“So, THE JETTSETTERS SOCIAL CLUB has now been out on submission for 8 days. Those dreams of an overnight sale are dashed. Ha. Just kidding. I’m way more reasonable than that. My dream was 2 days….still kidding.”

I loved this! We can say we understand that it takes time to sell a book, blah, blah, blah, but any writer that claims they do not secretly hope (and maybe even more than hope), just a little, that that their book is going to land on an editor’s desk Friday afternoon only for a 212 number to pop up on the caller ID Monday morning—well, let’s just say any writer who claims they don’t hope for that is going to have a nose longer than Heidi Klum’s left leg.

As I continued to read through Mandy’s posts, I was constantly amazed by her honesty. But with her honesty, came a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“I was burnt out…the idea of reading and writing wasn’t so exciting. I didn’t think of it every single night as I fell asleep. I didn’t conjure up a thousand different versions of what it would be like to get THE CALL.”

That statement hurt my heart. I do fall asleep every single night thinking about what it will feel like to get The Call. What I will do to celebrate? Who will I tell first?—Extremely important considerations, of course. It’s incredibly comforting to know that other writers on submission (or even not yet on submission!) feel this, too. Because, I’ve got to admit, sometimes I feel a liiiiiittle silly with so much thought devoted to the dream of publication and of sharing my book with others.

This, however, reminded me that these thoughts are actually a blessing. It’s when these dreams disappear that your dream is in danger or dying. Every second I spend hoping to realize that goal pushes me to materialize it. But sustaining that level of hope and that level of desire requires energy. It can really take it out of you! So, I can certainly see how I could get burnt out. And THAT is one of the saddest writing thoughts I’ve ever had. Fortunately Mandy pulled out of her slump and proved that secret to success is persistence.

Yes, Mandy’s story is incredibly inspiring for sure. But seriously, somebody ought to canonize her and her agent because they both truly stuck with it. And the very thought of waiting that long makes me want to jam the voteß(Please see SNL for reference)

Then again, she reminds us that “there is ONE SINGLE PERSON who could change everything.” She’s right. It only takes one editor. Or one agent. Whatever it is you are hoping for. But you can’t snag one if you don’t put anything out there.

“No one thinks, ‘okay, this is going to take a year.’”

How true is that? No one thinks that at all. I certainly don’t. But Mandy’s experience is probably MUCH more common than we realize. Sobering, but I’ve also learned from her that it’s not the end of the world unless you let it be.

Anyway, I just wanted to share and to publicly voice my appreciation for these posts. Y’all should definitely head over to her blog and read through these. I’m so thankful that she was willing to voice her feelings as she felt them during the submission process.

 

NOTE: I provided the link to her posts above. Skip to the beginning. You really can’t appreciate unless you read through the process as she goes through it.

2009 Debutante Author Interview Series: Lauren Bjorkman

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Roz and Eva are sisters, close friends, and fierce rivals. Roz fantasizes about snagging the lead in the school play and landing sexy skate god Bryan as her boyfriend. Sadly, a few obstacles stand between her and her dreams. For one, Eva is the more talented actress. And Bryan happens to be Eva’s boyfriend. But is Eva having a secret love affair with a girl? Enquiring minds need to know.

Roz prides herself on random acts of insanity. In one such act, she invents a girlfriend of her own to encourage Eva to open up. The plan backfires, and Roz finds herself neck deep in her invented life. When Roz meets a mercurial boy with a big problem, she begins to understand the complex feelings beneath the labels. And she gets a second chance to earn Eva’s trust.

MY INVENTED LIFE is set in small California high school during the rehearsals for a Shakespeare comedy.

 

Lauren Bjorkman grew up on a sailboat, sharing the tiny forecastle with her sister and the sail bags. They are still friends, and she still likes to travel to exotic corners of the world. She now live in Taos, New Mexico with her husband, two sons, a cat that thinks he’s a dog, and another cat that thinks he’s a rabbit. Thankfully, she’s settled down long enough to answer a few questions about her debut novel, My Invented Life, coming out in 2009.

Hi, Lauren. Congrats on your debut novel, My Invented Life. I can’t wait to see it on shelves! But can you give us a little statistical rundown on how long it took you to get to this point? How many books? How many rejections? How many days, months, or years?

Too long. When I had my first kid, I quit my job and started writing novels. Now he’s in the fifth grade! Thankfully I had no idea how long it would take me, nor how many rejection letters would accumulate in my file (40, maybe?) I began as a novice with a crazy belief in myself and a passion for reading, minus a degree in English. Now I’ve written three and a third novels. MY INVENTED LIFE is my second. It’s been a long, long road. But worth every mile.

Which “Call” thrilled you more? The call in which you landed an agent or the call in which you landed your book deal? Can you describe to us what it felt like?

Speaking of which…congrats on YOUR call!!! What a thrill when I read about it in your blog.

For me, the first call excited and disoriented me the most. I’d queried a few agents and received matching rejections. Then my instructor at a novel writing workshop recommended me to his agent. After two months passed, my hopes deflated. One day, though, he emailed me to say his agent had tried to reach me. I emailed her immediately, and less than 30 seconds after hitting the send button, my phone rang! And it was her!! And she offered to represent me!!!

As you know, you’re supposed to interview an agent before accepting. But I was too busy hyperventilating, pacing the house, and babbling like an idiot. I had finally stepped into a parallel universe, one that respects writers. Besides, I’d already Googled the heck out of her, and knew she’d be perfect for me. So I accepted on the spot. Luckily, she didn’t change her mind after my lame conversation over the phone.

Awww, thanks, Lauren!!

Throughout your journey as a writer, what resources have you found most valuable to your success? Websites? Books? Conferences?

Excellent critique from other writers has helped me the most. A few of my critique partners are published, but most are not. When it comes to critique, I’ve learned to listen to my head and my heart to separate the gems from the rot.

Books on writing such as The Writer’s Journey, Bird by Bird, and Writing Down the Bones have helped, too. So have writing workshops. Conferences are a good way to meet other writers.

I’ve always envied writers with fabulous critique groups. That’s a real gift to have and I know they must be so proud of you! We all know that writers go through hard times on their way to success. How have you handled rejection in the past?

You mean what do I do after I’ve finished crying, fuming, and stewing? I eat a lot of chocolate. If it’s really bad, I read over one of my “love letters.” Yes, I keep a file of letters and emails from people who rave about my writing. After that, I pick myself up and keep going. More writing is always the best antidote.

This is Fumbling with Fiction, so I have to ask, in your writing career have you ever had a big “Oops!” moment?
 

*blushes and cringes simultaneously*  I’ve had a few. When I sent a rewrite of MY INVENTED LIFE to an interested agent, he took forever to look at it. After waiting longer than I could stand, I wrote him an email with “patience is a…” in the subject line. I got the mss back in two days with a terse rejection letter.

One time at an SCBWI conference, I had a consultation with an editor from a small local press. She LOVED my book, but didn’t publish YA. Afterwards, I told a friend (rather loudly) what an “ego boost” that had been. The editor was sitting right behind me!

Oh dear. Well, at least you’re the wiser for it! Now that you are a soon-to-be-published author, seeing the view from the other side, what has been your favorite moment in the publishing process so far? What part of the process has most surprised you?

For pure bliss–my agent saying, “You’re book is very funny. I forced myself to slow down when I was reading it to savor the humor.” That pretty much balanced out the editor at an SCBWI conference who told me I had NO VOICE.

What an awesome compliment from your agent! She must have been a fantastic advocate for your work! Tell us a little about receiving your first editorial letter. What was yours like? How did you feel when you received it?

My editor told me, “This is your book. You get to decide which changes to make.” Still, I obsessed about it. So when it came in at three paragraphs, I was hugely relieved.

I have a funny story about my editorial letter. I desperately wanted to get it before I left on a backpack-style trip to Malaysia with my family. But my editor didn’t finish writing it in time. She ended up mailing it with my marked-up mss to an airport hotel in LA where we spent the first night of our trip. After I read her comments, I couldn’t mail the mss home from the airport hotel nor the airport. So I lugged the thing on my back for five weeks. It’s a very well traveled manuscript.

Maybe that bodes well for foreign rights sales!!??? Finally, if you could have written one book previously published by another author, which book would it be?

The current crop of YA books blow my mind. I wish I’d written ALL of them. Since I have to choose one book, I’ll say Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It’s funny, romantic, serious, and political all rolled into one.

Thanks so much for interviewing me, Chandler. And good luck with YOUR book!

Thank you, Lauren! And readers, just to leave you hangin’, I’ll send you off with a tantalizing snippet of My Invented Life…

The first thing I see is Eva’s journal. I’m not tempted. It rests seductively at the center of her night table, and the latch appears to be broken. Still I won’t touch it. Even though I know she’ll never find out. And even if it might reveal why she deleted me from her life.
OK then, one little peek.

2009 Debutante Interview Series: Kurtis Scaletta

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As our first male debutante, Kurtis Scaletta was nonetheless willing to don the white dress and elbow length gloves for a moment to chat with us about his middle grade debut novel, Mudville, which will be coming out from Knopf February 24, 2009. Thanks, Kurtis!

Welcome to Moundville, where it’s been raining for longer than Roy McGuire has been alive. Most people say the town is cursed: right in the middle of their big baseball game against rival town Sinister Bend, black clouds crept across the sky and it started to rain. That was 22 years ago . . . and it’s still pouring.

Baseball camp is over, and Roy knows he’s in for a dreary, soggy summer. But when he returns home, he finds a foster kid named Sturgis sprawled out on his couch. As if this isn’t weird enough, just a few days after Sturgis’s arrival, the sun comes out. No one can explain why the rain has finally stopped, but as far as Roy’s concerned, it’s time to play some baseball. It’s time to get a Moundville team together and finish what was started 22 years ago. It’s time for a rematch.

 

Congrats on your debut novel, Mudville. I’m extra excited about this book because it comes out on my birthday! (*Hint, hint*) But can you give us a little statistical rundown on how long it took you to get to this point? How many books? How many rejections? How many days, months, or years?

Thanks! That means have the same birthday as my agent. Lots of good karma for February 24.
I can’t say I have that classic author anecdote about a drawer full of rejection letters. I do have a few, but not the dozens or hundreds you sometimes hear about. I’ve been writing since I was a kid, though, and seriously since I was 17 or 18. I’ll be 40 next month, so that makes for 20-odd years of writing before I became published. If I didn’t get a lot of rejections, it’s because my failure came earlier in the process: not finishing things, not sending them out, etc.

 

Which “Call” thrilled you more? The call in which you landed an agent or the call in which you landed your book deal?

Coming to an agreement with my agent took some time… I made revisions she suggested over several months before she committed. So I was more “whew” than “whee!” when it worked out. I was definitely thrilled when I got the offer from Knopf, though. I was IM-ing my wife and emailing friends while I was still on the phone with my agent.

Throughout your journey as a writer, what resources have you found most valuable to your success? Websites? Books? Conferences?

I had an internship at Writers Digest Books when I was in college, so I spent an entire summer submerged in the “how to” aspects of writing and publishing. It was a great experience. Their market books are especially useful, and now they have a pretty good website where you can search for publishers, create lists of favorites, and track your manuscripts. I also recommend authors learn a bit of project management: setting goals, meeting deadlines, getting organized, etc. I do a lot of project management in my day job and it’s helped me as a writer.

What a cool internship. I’m jealous! Boy books are in high demand, it seems, but most young adult writers are women. What are some important things to keep in mind when writing a male protagonist and a book perhaps aimed more at boys?

I’ve been facilitating boys reading groups for a couple of years, and it keeps me plugged into the way boys think and talk about books and what they might like or dislike… not that all boys are the same, but it helps me think about things from their perspective.

This is Fumbling with Fiction, so I have to ask, in your writing career have you ever had a big “Oops!” moment?

Hmmm…  I think the only thing I regret is making a cell phone call when I had lunch with my editor. I was in Manhattan for one day and realized I was going to be late hooking up with a friend. I hate it when people use cell phones in restaurants, actually, and it was the only time I’d met her in person so I should have been at least as respectful as I am to everyone else all the time! I don’t think she minded, but I still think — what was I thinking? — the call could have waited. My friend would have understood.

Now that you are a soon-to-be-published author, seeing the view from the other side, what has been your favorite moment in the publishing process so far? What part of the process has most surprised you?

My favorite moment will be seeing my book on the shelf. That still hasn’t happened, but that’s the ultimate goal, of course. I think the nicest surprise is how quickly you get connected to other authors. Authors who have already been published, and other debut authors. People who write kids books are very warm and hospitable bunch. There are some pretty successful authors who will take time to congratulate a newbie.

Tell us a little about receiving your first editorial letter. What was yours like? How did you feel when you received it?

It was about six pages, and I think my first thought was just, wow, this is the closest and most carefully anybody has ever read something I wrote, and probably the closest anyone ever will. I wasn’t daunted by the work, I was just flattered by how attentive it was. 

Great attitude towards it and so true. Finally, if you could have written one book previously published by another author, which book would it be?


Kathy Acker actually copied her favorite books word for word, longhand, into notebooks. I find that really interesting… it’s such a literal way to think about wishing you’d written a book. So I have half a mind to “write” Charlotte’s Web that way. I think I’d learn a lot by paying such close attention to E. B. White’s deliberate, stylistically perfect prose. However, I’d be bawling way too hard to finish the last chapter.
Thanks for the interview! This was fun.

Can I Get An Amen?

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There’s only one truly awful reason not to write: You’re scared.

But I get it. I do. I was scared to death to write. I thought, Who am I to write a book? More than that, Who am I to even think that I could write a book?

And publishing? Forget it!

But I want to share something that not only told me that I could and should go for it, but keeps me motivated every day to get something down on paper.

 

(*Note: I don’t think you need any religion whatsoever for this to apply. Not tryin’ to stand on the pulpit here!*)

The Parable of the Five Talents

To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability.  Then he went on his journey.  The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more.  So also, the one with the two talents gained two more.  But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.  The man who had received the five talents brought the other five.  “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with five talents.  See, I have gained five more.”

His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your master’s happiness!”

The man with the two talents also came.  “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.”

His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your master’s happiness!”

Then the man who had received the one talent came.  “Master,” he said, “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.  So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground.  See, here is what belongs to you.”

“Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.  For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.  And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

- Matthew 25:14-30 (NIV)

 

So, it’s not like I ever fancied myself a young, white girl version of Toni Morrison or anything. I just knew that I had a huge passion for books and that writing is something I always wanted to pursue.

Since I was ten I wanted to be a writer, but always thought it impractical. (Yes, I was a very rational little girl. I think even then I wanted to be a lawyer–or maybe race dogsleds.) 

Anyway, I was a counselor at my childhood camp a couple years ago and re-heard the parable of the five talents. I swear, someone might as well have spanked my behind with a rolled up newspaper because I felt downright forlorn that I had been the servant who had buried my talent.

There was good news, though! I could dig my talent up, dust it off, and start putting it to use.

Now, every day I think, It’s not about whether or not I get published because I’m peddling that talent. I’m using it to get new talents. Like writing graphic novels. And reviewing books. And now snagging my agent, getting ready to submit to publishing houses.

So many good things have come from dusting off that rusty old talent. The one I wasn’t even sure was in the same spot.

I kept writing through rejections letters, through close calls, and through moments where that damn plot was stuck in a quagmire so mucky Bilbo Baggins himself couldn’t wade through. I did it because I’d know there was something inherently wrong about sticking my talent back in the dirt.

Point being: If you want to write. Write. Don’t be scared. I think this comes at a particularly good time because so many people are considering doing Nanowrimo. Now, I’m not saying the book you wrote for Nano will be on the fast track to the NYT bestseller list, but it’s a great place to brush the dirt off your talent and let it stretch its legs. So have fun and start planning for November or whatever writing related goals you may have! Look forward to hearing about your successes!

 

Status: Still expanding my synopsis. I must say, I think it’s coming out well. I mean, it should be when eeking out each page takes me a day! That’s ok, though, because I want it to be perfect.

It’s got some dialogue and I’ve incorporated several captions. I think it’s really capturing the “feel” of the graphic novel. I also had a cool breakthrough with the help of the artist regarding some of the “science” behind shapeshifting. Tons of fun and I got the chance to add it to the synop.

And, if you don’t know what in the heckfire I’m talking about and, instead, would like to be clued in, stop by my Scout page!