My first reply
This morning when I opened my e-mail I saw it sitting there among my many other e-mails. A reply to one of my queries. They are all sent now, but this was the first reply I received.
My stomach knotted and my heart beat picked up. Where they requesting a partial, or was it my first rejection. I tried to coach myself, it’s a rejection, no big deal, all authors get rejections. But still I couldn’t help the little thrill of excitement that it might be a request for a partial. Maybe someone wanted to read my story.
I opened, read and replied to all my other e-mail first as an exercise in patience, and because I was dreading opening that particular e-mail as much as I was desperate to read it. When all my other correspondence was done and I had no more excuses I opened the e-mail.
It was a rejection BUT….
It was the kindest most polite and gentle rejection I could have imagined. The agent didn’t rip apart my query, they didn’t say my idea sucked, they simply pointed out that this project was not right for them. They encouraged me to continue to submit to other agents.
So I want to tell them Thank you. Not that rejection is ever easy to take, but it is so much easier when it is done gently and with kindness. It was in my opinion the perfect first rejection. One that was harsh would have been shattering.
Not that I wasn’t disappointed, even after all my coaching I felt the little lurch you feel in your stomach when you have received bad news. I felt terrible they didn’t want to read my story. Then I realized something- I am an author now!!! Not just a writer but an author. I have received a rejection. How many published authors and even FAMOUS authors received a rejection? I will not venture a guess at the actual number but I will say from what I have read A LOT. So I am in good company.
So what does this mean, well I still have 6 queries out that I mailed as a first round of queries. This is only my first rejection and I am working on my second round of queries now. So this basically means that I am going to keep going. There are still many many options out there. I will keep everyone up to date as the responses to my queries come in. I can only imagine that this is the first of many rejections. But I look forward to the “YES” that is coming. Who knows, it may get here today too.