24 July 2009 - My very first rejection letter

Whoo me! About three weeks ago I finally finished my novel! Hurrah!

I had my first three chapters exactly how I wanted them, and I had a synopsis and introductory letter. And I sent it to my first UK agent.

I settled back, prepping myself for the worst. And in under week it came (a week! I thought agents took months???)

I got a form letter telling me that the agency is taking on ‘extremely few new clients’ and ‘please do persevere’. Then the letter tried to flog me a book by one of their directors on presenting work to publishers and agents. It’s bad to get rejected. It’s worse when an agency tries to sell you something in the same breath.

Still, I’m in the game now and I suppose that’s what matters. I’ll learn as I play and hopefully get good enough to finally land something. I realise now that I have a few hurdles to overcome if I’m going to make my novel any good.

Number one is that I have to let people read it. But not just any people. I’ll start off with Gill and see how that goes. I have no idea why I’m so precious about this. It was the same with my thesis. I guarded it like it was made of gold.

Number two. I have to buy an absurd amount of envelopes, stamps, printer ink and paper. This is going to be a long and costly process. It’s not fun and games. It’s a job and as such, I need office supplies.

Number three sees me becoming battle hardened and grizzly from all the rejections. I quite like that idea actually.

Number four is that when I get home, I am going to take a writing class. I can obviously put in the hard yards, and I think I can carry a plot, but it would be good to get some real help from someone who doesn’t know me.

In an attempt to rally my fragile self-esteem, I looked up some authors that had also been rejected. Two of my favourites were in there.

Ray Bradbury. I loved Fahrenheit 451. Apparently he had over 1000 rejections. And then there was George Orwell. The man himself. Animal Farm was rejected. I couldn’t believe it.
That made me feel good. So good that while I will continue to send out my first novel, tomorrow evening I shall start on my next one.