Yesterday, I was struggling for a topic to post about. There were a couple of vague ideas knocking about in my brain, but none of them felt quite right. I either didn't feel I could write enough about the subject or it just didn't have the right "mood" about it. I wanted to put something positive on my blog to counterbalance the dark poetry I've been posting on my social media pages this week, but the best tone I could come up with was indifferent. I went to bed last night with no good ideas.
This morning, inspiration came in the form of a rejection e-mail from a literary agency. "A rejection e-mail? What happened to writing something positive?" I hear you ask. Bear with me. I promise this is far from a bad thing. I mean, for one thing it gave me something to blog about.
The work in question was a children's book which I submitted eight months ago to three different literary agents. Each of the agents' websites said they would not respond to submissions that didn't show promise, and to assume you were unsuccessful if there was no response within four to eight weeks.
A couple of weeks after submission, I got a response from one of the agencies. Although it was a rejection, it was what I call a "positive rejection." It was encouraging that they even considered my work worthy of a response in any case, but the e-mail said that they enjoyed it and I should keep trying elsewhere. However, being a small agency of only two people, they don't take on many new clients. That was the only response I received until now.
After the first six weeks I thought it was unlikely I'd receive any more responses. My plan was to tweak it, write a few more somewhere down the line and submit them together. (Many agencies that deal with manuscripts for children's picture books like you to send a few at a time.) This project was put to one side while I worked on my novel.
This morning, when I looked at my inbox to check the details of a Zoom meeting I have tomorrow. (Crap! I still haven't looked at that!) and there was my second response out of three, telling me my story had potential. Again, they cited being a small agency and not feeling they were the right people to take it on. But the word "potential" is music to a beginner's ears. I mean, that was the one and only children's book I'd ever written.
While I am getting there with editing the novel, it's a long process to polish a 100 000 word piece and it sometimes feels like publication is an eternity away. So, in a strange way, that e-mail gave me a lift. It's exciting to think my children's book might just be a few tweaks away from being accepted by an agent!
The project I'd put on the back burner is now in the forefront of my mind again. It won't hijack my novel; I won't let it because I'm committed to getting it finished. Still, I feel encouraged to see if I can allocate some time each week to the children's stuff. Who knows? Maybe I can make something of it.
In most fields it would probably seem strange to take a rejection as cause for celebration. There will even be a fair few writers who feel deflated by it. I imagine I'll feel far less enthusiastic when I've received loads of them, which I will. Every writer does and it's unrealistic to expect otherwise. But I'd like to remind everyone in this position that even a rejection can be a really good sign. Agents and publishers are busy people. If they've made the effort to contact you, your work must be on the right track and that is definitely a reason to smile.
To all my fellow rejects, keep going. One day our work will land on just the right person's desk.
V.
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