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Fortifying Friday - Rejection

bringit

Yesterday, I received my first rejection from an agent. It stung. It wasn't that it was bad. It was worded in a way that it may have even been personally written. Regardless, rejection never feels good unless you were secretly hoping to stay home and do nothing when a friend made plans with you. Then it feels great! I might be an introvert ;)

Anyway, it hurts a bit extra when you have other things going on. Between the worries of the state of the world and being unemployed, it felt much like being kicked while I was already down.

The agent said she couldn't connect with my book though she really wanted to. She also said not to take her rejection as any kind of sign that I should give up. It was nice as far as rejections go.

So, I lay there for a bit. Then I let my friends know via social media. Several said that I had hit a milestone and I should try to collect as many as possible this year. Rejections, they said, were a badge of honour awarded for putting myself out there. Seems like a bit of a strange way to look at it, but it might be like the building of a callus. I know one day that I'll experience bad reviews because even the best authors get them. Learning to handle rejection at this tender stage in my career can only be a good thing.

So what next? Well, I'm working on my next query. I've revised my pitch to start. I'm trying to decide now if I should mail this one or email. It's the first I've seen with the option. They want 50 pages instead of 10. Maybe by mailing it, they'll see I'm extra serious given that it will cost me to print and send it?

On the job front, I know what I want to do, but the path is a little murky. I emailed someone for clarification. In the meantime, I'm applying to things that will keep a roof over my head. I should be getting EI, but it hasn't paid out yet. I meant to drop banking information off earlier today, but I was struck by a wave of dizziness and couldn't do anything beyond watch TV.

All there is for me to do is keep trying on all fronts. Eventually, I'll either find a path or make one. I tried to post this earlier, but WordPress didn't load for me. Now it's working properly. Maybe other things in my life are about timing too.

Well, I'm very tired this evening, so with that I will say good night.

Salut,
R~
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