Rejections are a part of writing (a lesson I'm REALLY learning this year)

“Work like hell! I had 122 rejection slips before I sold a story.”

― F. Scott Fitzgerald

I got a rejection on my novel query (one of the full requests) yesterday. It was a nice, and personal, rejection. See below:

I was definitely "in my feelings" about the rejection last night. "I'm a terrible writer," was honestly my first thought. Confidence (especially with my writing ability) is not something I possess.

Then I woke up this morning to supportive messages from my writing (and real life) friends, Dave and Kristen, both of whom reminded me that writing is subjective.

I also looked at my Querytracker stats and realized how lucky I am.

My negative reply rate is nearly a third of the average member. My positive reply rate is nearly double.

I've received two full, and one partial, requests based on my query alone.

My concept is solid, I have a great hook, but the writing isn't quite landing with agents yet.

This year has been full of "close, but no cigar" moments for me.

I've had more rejections this year than the number of times I even tried to submit writing in the last two years combined. But that's because I committed to putting my writing out there this year more times than I did in the last two (or three) years combined.

Many of the rejections I receive are personal ones that ask me to please submit more work (often accompanied by the word "soon"), which is more than I could've hoped for a few years ago.

There are many things I can control with writing:

• How fleshed out (or not) my outline for a project is and how closely (or not) I follow it.

• How many times I submit my work.

• How long I spend going down research rabbit holes.

• The amount of time I spend writing each day.

What I can't control is how editors, publishers, and agents react to my work. I cannot control whether they decide the project is for them or not.

We're coming up on the new year. It's a time traditionally spent creating resolutions for the person we want to be as we head into January and beyond.

Like most people, I tend to make resolutions that I either quickly forget by February or are for things I cannot control, like "I will get published this year." Which was the resolution I made for myself last year.

I've realized lately that it's ludicrous to expect others to believe in me when I don't even believe in me half the time.

My writing will never reach whatever heights it is meant to reach if I don't put my work out there in the world. As the saying goes, "you can't edit a blank page." But you also can't publish writing that has never been seen in the world outside of your computer screen.

In this coming year, I only have one resolution: I will work to become more confident in my writing.

That resolution is both as simple, and as impossible, as it sounds.

By this time next year, I hope I can tell all of you that I met that goal, whether I reached publication of any of my writing or not.