Rejections, and More Rejections
Mystery Horse at Oak Lane Stable (Book 1) started out as a 20-page assignment for my first Novel Workshop for Young Readers while I was a graduate student at Mount Mary University. I knew how to read novels, but writing them? Not a clue. I struggled putting down twelve pages, let alone the twenty pages needed to meet the assignment’s requirements. After being (harshly) critiqued by the class, the professor pulled me aside and offered some wise words: write what needs to be written, not what you think others want to hear. When I sat down to start over the following week, the story I avoided came pouring out. I easily fulfilled more than twenty pages, plus finished over the forty pages we were to complete by the semester’s end.
I worked on the novel throughout the rest of my schooling, finishing roughly ninety pages by the time the thesis semester rolled around. I was satisfied with the 5 solid chapters, critiqued and fully edited by numerous sets of eyes. I left school ready to start a writing career as a novelist, or so I thought.
About a year after graduating, I attended a 1-day writing conference in late fall with the sole purpose of experiencing first hand what pitching to an agent was like. I was allowed a 5-minute pitch to a Chicago-based Literary Agency, which I had prepared for. Imagine my surprise when she said, “We love horse stories! Send me the first five chapters. Hmm, I’d like to see this as a trilogy.” My knees wobbled when I left. I was stunned to have gotten a positive response, and more books to write. “Wow,” I thought, “this was easy!”
But there was a problem - Mystery Horse had only 5 chapters written. What was I supposed to do if she wanted to see more? I sat down and worked steadily on the novel, completing the rest of the draft in about 10 days. I had others read and edit the work, so I knew it would be ready to go when she asked for more. (I suggest making sure the novel/work is completed BEFORE you pitch or query the work - only send your best work.)
I followed up with the agent after the holidays, emailing her to find out if she wanted to read more. I didn’t receive a response. And, I didn’t receive a response to the next two emails I sent her, about three weeks apart from each other. I attended another writers conference in the spring and learned that the “no response” was the new rejection. I felt disappointed in learning this. I’d had such high hopes, but I started researching other literary agencies and publishers who might be interested in the novel.
After two years of querying, I started to lose hope. On one afternoon, I received five rejections - all within an hour and a half window. Now I was devastated. Was the novel that bad? Had I written something awful? I worked hard on it, so I knew it wasn’t sloppy. I felt badly for the story, so bad that I put the novel away for over a year - refusing to query it anymore. I was heartbroken. I bid my author life adieu, and went back to interior design.
The following spring, I attended the Lakefly Writer Conference, held annually in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I met a publisher there whose presentation impressed me. Since we were attendees of the conference, we could query any work we had to this publisher within the next month. I left intending to do nothing more with them. On a whim two weeks later, I pulled out Mystery Horse and sent it to them. I cried in my car the following morning while running errands. I checked my emails while I was parked at a store and saw they had responded by saying they loved the story and wanted to publish the book. I could hardly believe it.
Writing can be a tough road to follow. It can have rejection after rejection, but please keep going. Keep writing and sending out that work. It deserves to be seen by others. Not everybody says no.
