188 rejections

Last night, I listened to a presentation by Jessica Day George, a YA author. She brought her binder full of rejections as a prop and showed us some of them, like the one written in crayon and the one from the same publisher who ended up offering her a contract two weeks later. There were 188 of them. She said many authors told her to expect about 100 rejections before getting published. She hit 100 and kept right on going.

Some of her advice I'd already heard before (from the multiple writing books I read when I was procrastinating doing any actual writing), but some of it was quite valuable. I learned about polishing the three-minute verbal pitch and about meeting agents and editors face-to-face. Writer's conferences, baby! If I'm really going to do this writing thing, I might have to invest some actual dollars in writing association dues and conference fees. There is such a thing as legitimate business expenses. Sometimes, when you start a business, you have to pay for expenses before you get any income.

In the meantime, I'll keep sending queries. I've only got five rejections so far. I've got some work to do.