I’ve heard from a couple of people lately who are down in the dumps about writing.  Either a book isn’t going well, one got rejected, one didn’t sell well… a week or so ago, I heard back from one of my editors about a book I had sent her a while back.  She did enjoy it, loved the ’emotion’ of it, but didn’t feel it was right for their line.

So I did what I normally do.  I sent it somewhere else and it’s already scheduled for release.

Somewhere in my file cabinet is a folder with rejection letters.  Her Best Friend’s Lover was rejected from several places in New York, including Silhouette.  Coming in Last was rejected from Kensington.  I ended up expanding on the books, pumping up the heat a little and submitting them to Ellora’s Cave.

Rejections are the pits.  Whether it’s the form letter kind that makes you wonder if they read your book, or a more personal one, they just plain suck.  They are also a part of life when you’re a writer.  Books that don’t cooperate, editors that that aren’t easy to work with, cover art that sucks, a book that doesn’t sell worth a damn, friends who aren’t really friends at all and people you thought you could trust stabbing you in the back, it’s all part of the life. 

I’ve been lucky for the most part.  I’ve only had one or two editors that were hard to work with and the ones I’m with now at all of my publishers are great.  I’ve already told you all I have a wonderful cover fairy.  But I’ve been told by an editor that a book of mine was the most depressing thing she’d ever read.  I’ve been flogged (figuratively speaking) by an editor who claimed that if I didn’t learn how to write a proper synopsis, I’d never make it out of ebook publishing and into NYC.  (Is it petty of me to want to go… nyah nyah nyah?)  I’ve got a wonderful agent and I’ve got a solid circle of friends that I know I can count on.

Five years ago, I thought once I got published, all I would have to do is write and my life would be wonderful.  It was the dream job.   

But writing is hard.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love what I do and I wouldn’t trade it for another job, but it’s not a cake walk.  The writing isn’t the hard part, although it can be at times.  The hard part is all the other stuff that goes along with being a writer.  Dealing with rejections, editing out something you think is important to the story, dealing with people you’d rather not.  Introverts are expected to become extroverts, because face it, you have to promote the book.  Unless you’re a JK Rowling or Dan Brown or (insert whover!), that book isn’t going to sell itself.  Getting your hopes up that a book will take off like wildfire only to get smashed when it doesn’t.

You’re going to get rejections.  You’re probably going to have an issue with an editor at some point and you’re probably going to end up with a cover you don’t like.  You’re going to have personality conflicts, you’re going to have bad reviews, you’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to have personality conflicts, because you’re human and you’re working with humans.  

You’re not writing for fame and fortune.  If you are, you might want to try another career or check into reality TV.  For every Nora Roberts and Stephen King, there are a couple hundred midlist authors or unpubbed authors that have stacks of rejection letters.

You have to stick with it.  Even if you don’t get published/hit the bestseller lists/become a household name, if you’re a writer, you stick with it.  In the end, you have to because telling the story is necessary.

For a writer, writing is just something you have to do.  Non-writers don’t always understand that, and it’s hard to explain.  But writing is as vital to a writer as eating, drinking, sleeping & sex ;o)