Rejection

When you write, you think about the great story that you want to share with the world.  Problem is. . .  some of the world doesn’t think the same way you do, so they do not like your story.  And that is fine if they are people passing by your work.  But if those people are editors, agents or publishers, to whom you have sent your precious story all wrapped in your hopes, and they reject it for what ever reason, it’s hard.

You want to know why, you want to know what you could do to make it better, to make them like it.  Truth is, if you do stuff to it, you might change it so much that it would no longer be your story.  Yet, some stories need a good bit of editing to make them better.  Sometimes the story hops on the page a bit premature without taking all of the necessary plot with it, or the character development isn’t quite up to snuff, or the settings are a bit sketchy.   Rejection can be the incubator that is needed to bring the story to maturity.

But it still hurts.  Trust me, I know.

I am counting the number, keeping the letters, printing out the emails.  It is said that for every acceptance, there are dozens of rejections.  I haven’t crossed over into the dozens yet, so I guess I have a good many more to live through until I get to do a happy dance.