Not a rant or a rave, this one is more of a whine.
Gosh, it’s easy to be mature about rejection when you haven’t just experienced it. A little over a month ago I said, and I quote, “I try not to take rejection personally. I’m pretty sure the agents and editors I’ve queried don’t mean it that way.”
Today, however, my emailbox — and yes, I know I’m taking liberties with the English language — contained a form-letter rejection, so I’m not feeling so sanguine.
You see, for some reason when I decided to start sending more queries, it never occurred to me that this would, of necessity, result in more rejections.
As we used say in middle school, well duh!
Ah, well, I’m sure I’ll live to query another day.
Addendum: For the record, I’m grateful to receive any response, even a “Dear Author” one. Many agents and editors don’t acknowledge queries they’ve chosen not to pursue.
And it could be worse. At least I never received one of these in my locker.
Addendum: About ten minutes after I finished writing this post, that song by Kelly Clarkson started running through my brain — you know the one about what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? — and I suddenly thought, “Kym! You idiot! You survived cancer — why on earth are you whining about a measly rejection?”
Why indeed?
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I am so sorry sis. I too faced rejection this week, the job I was sure was my dream job. As my professor and mentor said, “Sam be your Budda self”..i.e. live for this moment, not the past or future moment. So I hope this helps for the moment.
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Thanks, Sam. I’m sorry to hear about the job, but sure something better is around the corner for you.
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