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Trying to break into this industry is like there's a big door you're knocking on, and you can hear something on the other side and yet NO ONE will answer. Because that's how it feels-- like you're being left out and desperate for someone to let you in.
It took switching to "this" side of the desk to realize that the people on the other side are just as desperate-- they WANT to let you in. They WANT to find those special stories the readers NEED in their lives, and champion them. Just like my agent did for me.
Those early drafts of my debut, that got rejected everywhere? They weren't good enough. I had to grow as an author to be ready. It did NOT mean I wasn't "good enough" to be published. It only meant I could be better than I was.
I remember believing that once you sell your first novel, you've "made it," that it meant you knew how to write, and just about everything would sell after that. But almost every author I debuted with in 2009 has written novels that didn't sell since they debuted. Including me.
Rejection doesn't make the highlight reel on twitter. You rant with your friends and you bum out and then you sit down the next day and write some more, because at the end of the day, this is the legacy we'll leave behind.
I think for me, being a writer will be forever entwined with being an agent. It's personal. It's important. It's frustrating as hell. And in the end, it's worth it. So keep going. Keep submitting and writing and finding a way to say F*CK the rejections.
… because that ONE letter from a kid who was struggling with friendship, the teen who was mired in grief, or the woman who was tempted to return to her abusive spouse until she found your novel? MAKES IT ALL WORTH IT.
ALSO, if you wrote a "fun" novel, a "beach read," don't think your work isn't just as important. Several of my novels were paperback originals and I struggled with whether my books mattered. But guess what? Sometimes people NEED that escape.
I received an email from a teen reader telling me she always hated reading and only picked my book at the school library because she HAD to, for a book report. She got in trouble for staying up late to read it. FUN, escapism books matter just as much as award winners.
Write the book you want to write. It can be a book that helps someone heal, or it can be a book that helps someone survive their crappy school bus ride home, but WRITE IT. And when it's rejected, know you're in good company, and KEEP GOING.
And lastly, just go ahead and print out this gif and hang it over your desk, you might need it sometimes.
