The Art of Rejection

This time of year, I start thinking about my goals and wonder just how many I’ve completed over the course of twelve months. Each year as a writer, an author should set some goals for the coming year. They can be as simple as Write a chapter a day or as hard as Finish fifty books this year. And believe me, I’ve been somewhere in between every year for the last seven or eight years.

So as usual, I started to look at my mission statement: To bring readers the best in erotic romantic fiction, to provide readers with a happy ending and to write every day to bring about this goal. Not bad but definitely needs some revamping for this coming year. I plan to post it early next year so all of you can see just how I’ve lined it all up.

Then I went on to what I call my business plan. It’s just ten simple statements of what I plan to do this year. And while I won’t got into complete detail as that is another blog, I can say it started out with the statement of be the best writer you can be and ended with take care of yourself because if there ain’t no you, there ain’t no this. In between those two lines were things about branding, agents and the total number of books I wanted to publish as well as conferences, sales and a host of other things.

In retrospect, it was a big plan, an ambitious plan and I feel good that I accomplished about 50% of it this year. I should have accomplished 100% but that too is speculation for another blog. But in all this planning and thought, there was one thing I kept away from my mind totally. And that was any thoughts about rejection.

Now, rejection is perceived as bad. And in some ways it is and others it isn’t. Rejection isn’t meant to be a smack in the face or a I’m going stop this crazy life kind of thing. No rejection really just means for whatever reason, that work is not liked by that person at that moment. Still, as I get ready to put forth my foot in the ring for an agent and all that encompasses, I thought I should remind myself just what it means to be rejected.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I know what it means to be rejected. I’ve been rejected a lot over the years by people who requested my work, by agents and publishers alike. Overall, I’ve had very few items rejected in the epublishing world in the last four or five years. This is good and this is bad as well. While it does give me a confidence boost, it doesn’t prepare me for when it does happen. I’ve also been rejected by a couple of agents and a NYC publisher in this past year as well all of which left me feeling somewhat out of my element.

So, with all this in mind, I started looking at my email this morning and wondered what the heck I would write about for today’s blog. Yeah, I had a basic idea but it really didn’t get cemented in my mind until I read this on an agents blog. Agent Jenny Bent was interviewing a young author who had racked up 20+ rejections and nine rewrites on a particular piece which sold. You should go read it:

http://jennybent.blogspot.com/2009/12/meet-mandy-author-and-agent-who-never.html

Wow, what a lesson in humility and the art of rejection. But the one thing this girl never did was give up. She never gave up on her story or her dream. Nor did her agent. And suddenly, my insides got all soft and I could feel this author’s joy as she finally achieved her dream. So I’m back to holding my dreams in my hands for all to see. This is a scary thought but as I go into the new year, I know this is what I need to do, what I must do.

And I have to say thank you to Mandy the author, thank you for giving me back a little portion of the dream I must have lost somewhere along the way. I’ve tucked it neatly inside and will cherish it always.

So as Christmas approaches, my wish for every author is that they have a well planned, long career ahead of them complete with successes and rejections, joys and passions for the writing you so love. For my readers, I sincerely hope I have brought you some of the best in erotic romantic fiction this year and to continue to do so throughout the next.

Now for the winner this week of An Elf’s Love, my new Christmas book...Sherry...come on down! Just email me at lynncrain@cox.net and I’ll get you your copy!

This is my last giveaway of the year. If you are interested in my Christmas giveaway, details are on my yahoogroup XtraOrdinary Romance. You can join here:

XtraOrdinaryRomance-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

The contest is easy...just join one of my groups or become a follower...and you get an entry to get a gift basket which is full of goodies and chocolate! LOL! Post on XtraOrdinary Romance and you’ll get more entries tossed into the hat. I’ll occassionally ask a question...you answer...another entry. If you bring a friend, you’ll get two entries. The contest starts today and runs through Christmas Eve with the winner being announced on Christmas. Have fun! And don’t forget to invite your buddies!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Lynn