By Rebecca J. Carlson
July 16, 2007
Went out to get the mail a few minutes ago. Horrors! There was a big white envelope! My SASE! Oh, I hate this part! Will I ever get used to it?
I couldn't open it.
"It's okay. It's okay. She gets hundreds of queries. She doesn't care. That's her job, to read queries and reject almost all of them! She probably didn't even think about it! She's forgotten it already!" I tried to reassure myself as I slammed dishes into the dishwasher.
I looked at the envelope. I didn't see anything pink inside. Do agents send back pink slips for rejections, or is that just publishers? I could read the response letter through the side of the envelope. Dear something starting with A? My name doesn't start with A. OH, it's Dear Author, a form rejection letter. I don't even want to read it! It will give me no clue as to what I did wrong. Did the agent bother to sign it? Did the agent read it, or did the agent's secretary read it? Maybe the janitor read it and told the secretary to put it in the reject box. I'm hungry. Maybe I should eat a snack before I read my form rejection letter? Some victuals to brace myself against the disappointment.
I wrote in red ink on the outside of the envelope: "Somewhere out there is someone who will be my agent. I will find this person."
I still haven't opened it yet. The suspense is all gone, so why can't I open the thing?
Oh dread, now I have to do it again! Now I have to hunt up another agent to query!
Maybe I should take up the ukulele instead. That way I can irritate people en masse instead of just one literary agent at a time.
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LOL! LOVE this post! I wish I could read the letter for you and then break it to you easy... :) Keep up the good work! You'll get there!
ReplyDeleteRebecca I laughed at your irritate people en masse comment.
ReplyDeleteKeep on going! This letter may not be the one you've been waiting for, but some day you will get that letter. Your life will be changed forever.
Ok, so I did note that you said this was your first rejection and it happened two years ago. Has the rejection gotten any easier since that time?
ReplyDeleteLOL! Hang in there! When you find your picture match you'll know. I thought of it this way, I figured the Lord didn't want to bless that particular agent, or that one... he only wanted me to have just the right one. I just had to find her. Don't give up!
ReplyDeleteJenni
Keep your chin up! At least your WIP is written, girl friend. Mine is simmering still on different pots of months and keeps getting pushed aside for piano lessons, mopping floors and snuggling with my 2 yr old son. Will I ever finish it? That's my biggest fear, one that you are already over.
ReplyDeletePS: the ukelele is a fine instrument, I used to take lessons as a kid & wish i still played it! ;)
I'm getting pretty good at the ukulele, but I haven't found that agent yet.
ReplyDeleteThe first ten rejection letters are the worst. After that it starts to feel like part of the game.