Surviving Rejection

Dear Barbara,

I finished my first manuscript just after my first son was born and have been fielding rejection letters ever since. My game plan was to find an agent first, but that is proving difficult. Agents normally ask for more of my manuscript upon reading my query letters, but I can't seem to get them to ask for much more after that. I've had some in the industry point to a little POV problem throughout the chapters, but that's about it. Many say I have a strong voice and should keep pursuing this but it's discouraging. Should I continue working on this particular manuscript and resubmit or should I chalk it up to my first go and work on another piece? I'm very excited about the book and want to keep trying, but I'm afraid of annoying agents by resubmitting my material. Please give me your advice.

Rejection is part of the writing business : it means, more than anything else, that you’re doing your job. No one (and I mean no one) gets through their career without getting rejected. But there are ways to make rejection work for you.

There are two crucial things to remember about rejection:

Rejection sucks. It never feels good. And when it happens, we want to vent, stomp, pound something.

Here's the reality slap: Get over it!

Something sent me to my old file drawer today; I was looking for an address of an agent for a friend, and I knew I’d queried that agent in the past. In my files, I pulled out a dog-eared, overstuffed, tear-stained file folder.

I remember creating that file, when I sent out my initial three agent queries for my first manuscript. I’m a fairly organized person, but for some reason I didn’t take the time to type out a label. This file folder bears one Sharpie-squiggled word on the tab: QUERIES.

And in it, I shoved a heck of a lot of heartbreak. But that’s not all that’s in that folder. There’s something else between those tattered edges. Something magical, something elusive, something that begs to be shared.

Jane Porter gives the good on how to get mentally tough and become a better writer.

It’s happened again. You’ve had another rejection, one of those awful, generic ‘editorial department’ ones we all dread: ‘Your story is well-written and plotted, but lacks the emotional depth and excitement we’re looking for.’

In this article, Melissa James helps you figure out what to do next.