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Sunday Check-In

It’s check-in day for the Seventy Days of Sweat Challenge. Go on over to Alison’s blog and put down your number. Also check out Larissa’s post on rejection.

Like Larissa, I had manuscripts rejected before I sold. At the time I wrote those manuscripts I thought they were good enough. That they deserved to be published. Looking back on them now I can see they weren’t good enough. I also learned that being published is not a birthright so that using words like deserve grew out of the wrong mindset. Only time and practice helped me to see what was wrong with those first pages. That same time taught me to be a better writer, which is another piece of wisdom I have now that I did not have then.

Rejection happens to most of us who are trying to sell books. If you don’t believe me, google the following search string: “romance author and rejection” and page through some of the 840,000 hits. Make the search less specific with “author and rejection” and you get 2,080,000 hits.

Still think it’s just you?

Understand going in that you’ll probably get rejection letters in your quest for publication. Be willing to take that and criticism. And, most importantly, keep writing. Reject. Move on. Get back to writing. Submit something new. I don’t know everything, but I know this part is true.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 22nd, 2007 at 10:48 am and is filed under About Me, About The Sweat Challenge, About Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

7 Responses to “Sunday Check-In”

  1. Andrea Says:
    July 22nd, 2007 at 12:00 pm

    Thanks so much for stopping by my blog with some encouraging words! It’s too easy to believe my own bad hype at times, but I’m feeling charged up and ready to write without limitations. You’re right, time and practice works.

  2. Thomma Lyn Says:
    July 22nd, 2007 at 12:57 pm

    I so appreciate your visits to my blog and your encouraging words! I’ve been smokin’ on my WIP, and it feels great. :) This Sweat Challenge is helping me demolish psychological blocks which have been deviling me for months now.

    And what an excellent post about rejections. You said it so well: the important thing on this writing path is to hang in there — keep writing, keep submitting, keep growing and improving as a writer.

    Thanks so much for your wonderful support — your comments always make me smile. :)

  3. Patty L Says:
    July 22nd, 2007 at 1:04 pm

    I checked in for this Sunday already. I wanted to tell you thank you for introducing me to this challenge. This week has been crazy, but the one day that I didn’t do any writing, actually made me guilty. I know you must be so proud to be encouraging so many writers.

  4. Susan Says:
    July 22nd, 2007 at 2:28 pm

    Thanks for the encouragement on my blog HelenKay! Glad to know I am not the only one :)

  5. Angelle Trieste Says:
    July 22nd, 2007 at 5:22 pm

    Hi HelenKay,

    Thank you for you encouraging words on my blog. :)

  6. Jess Says:
    July 23rd, 2007 at 5:41 am

    Thanks for the encouragement, too. And also, the crap hitting the fan is a -good- thing, because it means my characters are being forced to grow an’ all that. :D

    (And thanks for the anniversary wishes; I am blessed beyond belief to have M for a husband!)

  7. AJ O'Donovan Says:
    July 23rd, 2007 at 10:09 am

    Thanks for stopping by my LJ with encouragement! It’s weird but nice to see an actual published author wishing me well on my own turf so-to-speak. It’s great to know people care =D.
    I hope your writing is going better than mine, and i’ll see you at the next check in!

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