Well, I suppose I can consider myself an official writer now, as two days ago, I received my first rejection email.  Oh, it was written kindly and politely, but that didn’t take the sting of rejection away.  After reading it, and this was a submission that I had expected to hear something about quite some time ago, I thought, I felt better not knowing than getting that “I’m sorry but we cannot use your story at this time”.

But the sting has gone, and I go on.  I will continue to write and submit and hope.  I cannot do anything else, because I have characters and stories inside of me fighting to get out.

Yesterday, I read this on another blog:

• Agatha Christie went through FIVE years of continual rejection before landing a publishing deal; her book sales are now over $2 billion.

• Louis L’Amour garnered 200 rejections before a publisher decided to take a chance on him; his book sales are now over $330 million.

• Janet Evanovich wrote for TEN years before getting published; she now makes millions every year.

– See more at: http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/#sthash.NH9H1wFy.dpuf

After reading this information, I had two thoughts:  1) Wow!  That’s perseverance.  I hope I have that kind of strength, determination and fortitude, and 2) I hope it doesn’t take me that long because I have started at an age where I’m not sure I would have much time to produce a lot of great stories if I had to wait that long.

How about you?  Have you received rejection letters/emails?  How long have you been plugging away at your writing waiting for your big break?