It’s a sign of arrival, I guess. I’ve gotten my first rejection notices. Months ago I set out to write. I knew I could write, but could I write well enough to get people to publish and buy what I write?
The first test was to see if I could produce. So I set goals, like so many words a day or a steady clip of disciplined writing so I could prove to myself I have what it takes. And I passed the test.
The second test was to see if I could write a book. They say that for non-fiction you should only write the first three chapters and a book proposal (which is a production in itself). This is what you send to agents and publishers and if they like what they see, then you write the book. But I had to prove to myself that I could actually write book length. OK, I did that decades ago with my dissertation, but somehow this felt different. (I “only” had to sell my dissertation committee, not the publishing world.) A month ago I passed that test. I finished a book length manuscript (some 80,000 words).
The third test is to see if I can sell what I write. I’m tackling it on two fronts – trying to “sell” the book proposal for the manuscript to a book publisher and trying to sell shorter articles (500-2,500 words) to magazines and journals.
I sent out what are called query letters ages ago. They were more like the second bird that flew out of Noah’s ark – they didn’t come back. I needed something to come back, even if it was a rejection, just so I would know that a live human being actually saw what I sent and thought enough to express an opinion on it. Well, I’ve had responses the past couple of weeks. Including the much-feared rejection notice “Sorry your writing is not what we are looking for.” Well, what ARE you looking for? I’ll grovel; just send me something to copy!
But it was a rejection slip (actually more than one). And there was another – “you’ll hear from us in a few weeks.” So I am on my way. Like itinerating to go overseas, it takes a lot of rejections to land a live acceptance. I’m getting the rejections out of the way and learning to keep my ego intact as I do.
Now for the sale…
8 years ago