'Dear John'- On Rejection

This is not a post about being rejected by the opposite sex, because that might need to be an essay. Instead, I want to talk about something all writers face eventually; rejection by agents and publishers.

I've read about it, of course. Stephen King famously stuck his up on his wall, J.K Rowling collected heaps of them before Harry Potter was published, but somehow I underestimated the sheer dread of opening my email account and seeing 'RE: Submission' written on a subject line.

You steel yourself for the worst, and then it comes. Since my first name is you-know-what, I literally get 'Dear John' letters from publishers.

They're always politely worded. It wasn't necessarily that you weren't good enough, just that you weren't a good fit for them. Still, you can't help suspecting you'll see them around Waterstones with wordier, sexier books, books that are good at sport, and have bulging muscles...I mean, yea, books. We're talking about books. Totally still talking about books.

Maybe I'm no good. Maybe I've wasted years of my life labouring under the delusion I have talent I simply don't have...oh man, who even am I if I can't write? Existential crisis time! I should give up. This is too hard. What's the point in writing another stupid word? What's the point in anythiiiiiiiing?

I know this feeling and the temptation to think these things all too well, because the cruel sting of my last rejection was ten minutes ago. It hurts. Even though I know my heroes went through the same thing. Even though every piece of advice told me it would be like this. All the doubts that were shoved to the back of my head tripped over each other on their way to the front ten minutes ago, in a garbled chorus of, "You can't write, you're talentless, no one wants to read your stupid little story, I want more coffeeeeeee!" Okay, that last one can stay up front, but the rest have to go back to the basement. Go on. Back you go. You with the placard; that's not even spelt right, what are you doing?!

Now that they're all gone (aside from coffee dude, that was a good call, man) I can see there are a few reasons rejection might be happening:

One, I need to get better at writing. This will always be true. You can always get better, always keep learning and improving.

Two, I need to get better at writing cover letters and synopsis, (synopsi?) This takes practice, which I'm getting loads of, so that's good.

Three, my book just hasn't found a home yet. It's possible my sample chapters and cover letter etc are fine, but that the right agent/publisher hasn't received them yet. All art is highly subjective, we all like different styles, genres and stories.

Knowing all of the above, I'm still a bit down, but it will pass. If you're in the same position, know that it'll pass for you too. Eventually, an hour or a day from now, you'll get back to your desk, laptop, typewriter or A4 file-pad and start writing, because it's who you are. The three possibilities above are like Schrodinger's cat. You can't know which one is true, so assume they all are and keep writing.

KEEP. WRITING.