WORDS FROM W.W. December 19, 2018
Thursday afternoon one of the seventh grade teachers at the middle school I substitute teach and coach at exclaimed to me, “We love your book!” I sent her the book draft in a Word Document and she had been reading a chapter each night with her two kids, a fifth grader and a sixth grader.
I replied, “That’s great to hear, because I got the rejection letter from the publishing company two days ago.” Her face announced her surprise.
That afternoon the seventh grade counselor, who I had given the first seven hard copy chapters to came to me and said, “I really like it!”
“That’s great to hear since I got the rejection letter two days ago.”
She frowned in disappointment.
The letter came from the managing editor who had given me his business card at the Colorado Christian Writer’s Conference last May and told me to send the book. It had taken them this long to get it to the top of the pile. (Publishing companies are piled high with submissions and only a trickle ever being published.)
I showed my rejection letter to my Starbucks friend, who is one of the writers and producers of Adventures In Odyssey. She read it and, in a matter of fact way, said, “As rejection letters go…this is a good rejection letter!”
“Huh???”
“It shows that they actually read it and he’s giving you three suggestions as to what to do to improve it and bring it to a point where it’s ready to be published.”
“Ohhh!” My self-esteem came back up from the basement. “Have you ever gotten a rejection letter?”
“Sure!” This writer/creator of the series, that my grandkids love to listen to, had also been rejected. Several other people have told me about J.K. Rowling, who got numerous turndowns before Harry Potter became a household name.
Rejections are stings that can make us strive for something better. After I had submitted my book draft to the publisher I went back through and revised it again. Since the rejection letter I’ve gone through and done another revision. My dear friends, Ed and Diana Stucky, are going through it again…for the third time helping with the editing and their ideas. Ed has reached out to a couple of friends in the publishing world for advice and suggestions.
Rejections can sometimes show us who will be there to help us keep moving forward. They can make us stronger, more determined, and more focused.
One of the suggestions from the managing editor of the publisher was to cut it down to between 80,000 and 100,000 words. I was at 114,000. After going through it again I’m down to 101,000 and figuring out what the next cut might be that will not effect the quality or flow of the story.
If nothing else comes from this writing I will always remember getting a phone call one night from my ten year old grandson.
“Granddad!”
“Yes, Jesse.”
“We like it! We like your book. Mommy just read the last chapter to us tonight, and we really like it!”
“Thank you, Jesse!”
Three months later I got another call.
“Granddad!”
“Yes, Jesse.”
“We finished your second book tonight and…we really liked it!”
And now they are waiting to read the third book, which I’m 20,000 words into, as I also continue to revise Book 1 and Book 2.
I may never get a letter from a publisher saying “We’d like to pursue this with you!”, but two late night phone calls are all the acceptance I really need!
Words from WW Blog 