Writing through Rejection
November 2017
Linda Lee Kane
I released my first book in June of 2014. By the end of this year, I’ll have ten books on the
shelves. But along the way, there were rejections. A lot of
them. Nine years’ worth, to be precise. And that’s just before I
was published (because, yes, I’ve had rejections since then, too).
How many rejections can
you pile up in nine years? I stopped keeping track, but it was certainly
over one hundred. They came on one manuscript after the next because,
obviously, I didn’t quit. I also couldn’t keep shopping the same book (although
my debut was a rewrite of an early manuscript – I’ll get back to that).
So how did I keep my
enthusiasm for writing when agents and editors alike kept saying “no?” It
wasn’t easy. There were definitely days (weeks, months) when I wondered
why I was giving up so much of my free time to write books, going straight from
a day job (in the beginning) to my
computer over and over again with nothing to show for it (or at least, no book
deal).
Partly it’s because I’m
stubborn, I’m determined, and this was my dream. And I think that’s
important, because after nine years (or even a few months where you’re
dedicating time to a book instead of other things), there are going to be
people who suggest you focus on other things. And when they do, perhaps
you should remind them that Agatha Christie had five years of constant
rejections only to end up with more than $2 billion in sales, or that Louis
L’Amour had 200 rejections before becoming his publisher’s best-selling author
ever.
But that’s the big picture. Sometimes the hardest part is putting your butt in the chair day after day, chasing after a goal that seems subject to the whims of editors, agents, and the market. It’s feeling motivated to keep working on a new book when nothing you’ve done before seems to be working. That’s when you need to remember why you’re doing it, and hopefully it’s because you love writing.
3 comments:
Good for you, Linda. I've gone through rejection galore, but it didn't get me down because I too was persistent. I also learned from some of the rejection. I'm just not getting to my writing as much as I want though. I have my published short stories and in one anthology and my debut novel. You are moving along at a good speed. Here you are with yet another book. Keep up the good work.
Oh, if I'd let rejection stop me, I'd never have written all the books I have.
I had 17 rejections before my first book was accepted by Hard Shell Word Factory, which published another of mine. After that I decided to self-publish so I would have more control over my product.
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