After writing Remembering Jane, I wanted to get it published. After all, isn’t that the point of writing – to get published so others can read your amazing work? I didn’t know what the best route was, so I contacted Random House. Within a day or two, they had replied to my inquiries with a simple suggestion. Check out the Writers Market.
I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, so I did the obvious thing. I googled it. A long drive downtown and fourty five dollars later, I had myself a shiny new copy of The Writers Market – an awesome book. I flipped through it, not even sure where to begin. This single book contained everything I needed in order to get myself published (or so I thought). I went first to the lists of publishers out there and immediately began jotting down their requirements.
I bought a roll of stamps and some of those giant yellow envelopes and began sending off queries and sample chapters. I marked my calendar with the dates I expected to have responses by, and sat back anxiously awaiting what I knew for sure would be success.
A few weeks passed, and I received that first rejection letter. Okay, that stung a little, but everyone gets rejected at least once. Even Stephen King wasn’t immune to the “No Thanks” from a publisher or two.
Then I received another and then another “No.” All in the form of a standard “Form Rejection Letter.” Clearly I had done something wrong. Not all publishers could say “No” to a surefire success.
I pulled up my book and read through it. Wow, it was amazing how after only a few months, I had forgotten a lot of what I had written, and what’s worse, it wasn’t written all that well. Sure, it was still a good story, but there were so many things that could be better.
So now what, I asked myself. What do you do when you receive countless “No’s” from publishers regarding something you poured your heart into? You keep on trying. I’m not sure if that’s the right answer or not – but it was for me.
I had moved onto another story, trying to keep my nerves from taking over me as I awaited the remaining rejections from publishers that I knew were coming. I decided now was the time to focus on something different and I could go back and work on “Jane” again in the future. The time away would gain me some perspective.
After a year away from “Jane,” I think I’m ready to go back. As I read through it now, I find it even worse than I had a year ago. I guess that means my writing is getting better. It’s true what they say, practice makes perfect, and with each new story I write, I find my skills a little more sharp, a little more intact.
I saved each of the rejection letters I received in my attempt to publish Remembering Jane. They serve as a reminder that even though my friends and family may tell me my story belongs on a shelf in the book store, there are many out there – the many who hold all the cards – and they have a very different opinion. One much more critical and hard to stomach.
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