Hooray for failures!

I received my first rejection letter today, and it was actually a good experience. I'm not just saying that because you're supposed to keep your chin up when you're down and all that. It really was a good experience.

I got a very nice email (it was an electronic submission), not a form letter, telling me that she liked my writing, loved elements of the story, went "around and around" with her discussion, but ultimately turned down the manuscript. I emailed her back thanking her for her kind words and asking if she would be willing to receive queries from me on future projects, and within seconds she had emailed me back saying she would be happy to look at other things from me.

Overall, I think I had stilled myself for feeling totally dejected and receiving a form letter telling me thanks but no thanks. I know that selling a historical fiction manuscript will not be easy, and this is probably the first of many "no"s I will receive in the coming years. But if this is what it is like to be rejected, I think I am ready to have it happen some more.

Ask me about it again in five years when I have a pile of 100 rejection letters for three different novels and I will probably feel differently.