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Rejections, Quite Liter(ar)ally
I have entered the world of Literary Rejections. I am now at rejection number 47. How do I feel? Well first of all,
I am shocked and amazed that 47 agents have passed on the opportunity to help publish my book. Do they not know who
I am? They will. I can just feel it! I have a phenomenally awesome novel!
How many of us share the same feeling? Before sending out my queries, I read how Stephen King
had so many rejection letters he used to nail them to a piece of timber in his bedroom.
Pulitzer Prize winner William Saroyan wrote dozens of books, plays and short stories
claimed to have had a stack of rejection letters towering thirty inches high before
selling his first story. Okay, phew…I’m starting to feel better.
I best peruse my email. Ouch! Another rejection letter. This agent stated that
I had a strong query letter (yes!) but didn’t feel that she was the right fit (Dang!).
Remember what a buddy said, “Rejection’s just a game. Keep shootin’ those puppies out.
You have talent, someone will publish you!”
It is an interesting life we lead. We dream of publication, a New York Best Seller, a
spot on Oprah, a brand new car! Now I sound like I was a winner on “Let’s Make A Deal”.
But let’s face it, I close my eyes and I see fame. We all want to aspire and as writers,
we want it all! Most of us unpublished authors, I presume, have to work another 40 hour
job just to make ends meet and keep the lights on.
When we get home we let our creative juices flow, fervently pounding the keys to a world of wonder for which we are creating!
We can’t stop. There are too many ideas pouring through at once and oh dear lord…I just came up with the ending!
Pound, pound, pound, pound. Wow, that was a great ride…but now I had to deal with consequences.
Not wanting to peer at the eerie green glow of the electric clock through my strained blood shot eyes, I give in.
It’s 4 a.m. and I have to be up in three hours to start another day. It’s okay. When I close my eyes I will
dream of my book being discovered by a top agent who not only knows that it will sell millions of copies, but
will also need to guide me through the subsidiary rights! Ah, what a glorious dream it will be and the three
hours of sleep will be plenty to make it through another day.
Beep, beep, beep goes the alarm. I really need to spend the money on a clock radio to wake to the
illustrious sounds of a Tchaikovsky Symphony or something to gently shake me out of my dream of grandeur.
Another day, another donut. I will go to work with a positive attitude and a smile on my face.
Its only time that stands between me and my brilliant future. I can do this and I will do this.
At lunch I sit at my computer and stare at my unopened emails. There are two replies from my queries.
I have only sent out email queries thus far. I immediately start thinking that they will start out
nice but then the dreaded word “however” will follow! No you don’t, don’t be a Debbie Downer.
Just open them up and know that if they don’t offer to read your manuscript then they are not right for you.
My mind hesitates while my fingers finally click on the button like they had a mind of their own.
I was taking too long. I open the first reply from Agent “A”. I immediately looked for the however…
there it was! It stuck out like a sore thumb! I can’t read it, I just can’t. I click out of my email.
I cannot let this ruin my day. Talking myself back into it, I click back on and read the short response.
It went as follows, “I really appreciate you thinking of me when you sent the query to our agency.
HOWEVER, we do not represent fiction any longer. Good luck with your future success.”
Hey, not a bad response. It was my fault for mistakenly sending it in the first place. I have the
Writer’s Market Guide and usually make it a habit to look up their website before sending anything off.
I shrug with a smile. Okay, now that my ego is intact, let’s open up Agent “B’s” reply…
I click open the reply and quickly look for the HOWEVER. I don’t see it! I do a quick happy dance
only to read, “Although it was charming, I don’t think it would be the right fit for me.” ALTHOUGH,
a new dreaded word.
What was I going to do? I was at 49 rejections. How can that be possible? I had to get back to
work and try to keep the rejections from engulfing my brain. It worked. I only thought about
the rejections every other minute, not every minute.
I knew I needed an attitude adjustment so I went online and read a few blogs on rejections.
I found a rejection for Ernest Hemingway. It said, “It would be extremely rotten taste, to say
nothing of being horribly cruel, should we want to publish this.” This became a bestseller called
The Torrents of Spring. I’m starting to feel better. What else can I find?
I found a rejection for William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies. This publisher wrote,
“This is an absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.” This particular book
sold 14.5 million copies. I definitely feel better! The agents have not been cruel to me whatsoever.
I believe the agents these days understand how much time, sweat and love we put into our pain staking
transcribes.
My faculty is whole again. My adroitness is at 100% for the moment. I continue my studies.
Most of the articles explain how it is undoubtedly beneficial to at least get a short story published.
I needed to become a “published author” so agents would see my sense of worth. Thank you for taking
part in the first adventure of my dream come true…
Sheri L. Strobaugh is the pen name for Sheri L. Hatfield. She is a native of Orange County, California.
In her adult years, she decided to raise her family in the Pacific Northwest where she currently lives today.
Her 6 acres gives her room to read, write and cook big family dinners on Sunday nights. She grew up with
an attorney father who had such a great love for books and made them part of her life. The dictionary
game was played her entire childhood which has helped immensely in her writing. She wrote this short story,
after finishing her first novel. She had to take a minute to laugh at herself...
Email: Sheri L. Strobaugh
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