Writing has brought me many gifts. The gift of dreaming. The gift of being self-motivated (when I tell people my boss is an ogre...I mean me, and I am!). The gift of rejection...
Wait, you don't think that last one's a gift?
It is. I went through rejections as I tried to break into Harlequin. I finally sold them I Waxed My Legs for This? in March of 2000. But that doesn't mean every idea I had was embraced. For instance, I had the idea for a funny Hungarian grandma who accidentally cursed her own family to bad weddings. Harlequin didn't bite.
Fast forward a few years and I met this lovely editor at a conference and she asked if I had any unpublished manuscripts hidden under my bed. I mentioned Nana Vancy and she asked me to send it to her. I did...and it went on to be a bestselling book for Avalon. Years later, Avalon was sold to Montlake and the books were released as eBooks and the series continues to reach new readers. And that Hungarian grandmother, Nana Vancy, continues to get her own fan letters.
Rejection is never fun, but learning to hear someone say no, and keep trying anyway (after Harlequin said no to the idea, I sent them other ideas that they said yes to) is a gift. And maybe another part of the lesson is when someone says no, it doesn't always mean no forever. Maybe it means not right now, but sometime later, the answer might be yes. :)
Everything But... series at Amazon
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