I got my 10th rejection letter a few days ago. Later I went hunting in my email account in search for my previous rejection letters and found only two. The others, about seven, had been deleted or I haven’t searched for them effectively enough.
Posting them online on my personal Facebook page I got a few encouraging replies. One of them was a run down of what each of these rejection letters meant. This is what she said:
“Actually the rejection from DAW is excellent news. They said even if that particular book wasn’t right for them, they asked you to submit again in the future. So that’s actually GOOD.
The second is just standard confirmation they got it. It doesn’t mean anything and it’ll take 30 days to get back to you. If they don’t *shrug*
The third is an actual rejection. Pay no mind.
Getting rejected is a part of life, and actually a mark that you’re in the writing club now. Many people never get the courage to submit, or give up after one go. Almost no one EVER gets accepted right out of the gate. Stephen King has been rejected hundreds of times. A buddy of mine only has ten works in print and 200 rejections. The object is not to quit. So don’t quit. 💗
I actually printed and framed my very first one. It’s a badge of honor marking that I’m a real writer now.”
Seeing this breakdown of what each one meant, even though I already understood a while ago, it was review for me to fully understand. This got me to thinking and talking with my boyfriend, who is trying ot help me see the mistakes in my work. Then it happened…Jon saw a slight difference in the first chapter that I had not seen before or thought about. A light bulb went off in my head as I rushed to write down the notes in Volume 2 Journal, but was slowed down by him as he carefully walked back to the computer room with a full cup of coffee being sure not to spill it.
“Hurry! Hurry up!” playfully egging him forward, excitment in my voice, “I need to write this down before I lose it to the winds!”
The hail mary play was this – Jacob Umari still finds these old hand made parchments signed by David Geraci. He does a search for the name online and it leads him to Strong Waters Asylum, now named Strong Waters Rehab Center in upstate New York. While there searching more information about this long dead patient from the 19th century, he hides the files he’s found, along with the parchments and other files from that long lost case file, calls his friend Frankie needing his help and where to find them. Then something terrible happens to Jacob and his friends and family find he’s now kept at Strong Waters for medical evaluation.
Letting this new first chapter of book one steep in my mind for a day or so while going through the first draft or two in my head in story order and I realize something – Scarlet Elwood, Brandon’s wife, wouldn’t have such a heavy role to play. I can take her out and clear up fifteen slow chapters throughout all 3 books.
This also means this frees up time movement to go much faster and the possible shrinkage of book 2 cut in half and more easily mesh with book 1. Frankie would still move forward in book 1 to buy the Geraci mansion to build his story arch and Brandon would still leave Scarlet to presue his story arch as planned, but it would flow much smoother throughout all three books.
Then there’s Davon Tucker, he’d still go to the Geraci mansion with his two bandmates to film the music video. He’d interact with Frankie just as before in book 1 and still have a feel for the mansion as he goes into book 3. This would mean Jacob, Frankie, Brandon and Davon would all still be introduced in the first few chapters of book 1 and span out through the rest with ease. This would give Josh, one of the bandmates, more room to do his dirty work toward Davon instead of having Scarlet be the ‘ring leader’, which seems so out of place. Amy Tucker, Davon’s older sister, is also in on this scheme.
Having fully realized this, this means I can not take off any vacation or special events of any kind.
20th Class Reunion in August – Nope
New Kids On The Block concert in June – Nope
Gem and Rock shows this summer – Nope
Might be able to take a break for the Arlington Fly-In event since it’s right behind the house at the Arlington Airport and the noise of classic airplanes and racing planes would never let me work on my writing as they flew around for three days. Yeah, that’s my only break time. Not to mention, I’d still go out with my man to the movies.
How I work on my manuscripts is I treat it like a retail job of the schedules I used to have. I’m so used to such schedules for nearly 20 years in retail, finding it works great for writing.
2 hours writing/typing, 15min break, 2 hours writing/typing, 30min lunch (or an hour), 2 hours writing/typing, 15min break and 2 hours writing/typing until it’s nearly bed time at around 1am or 3am. This would give me a full 8 hours of work. I’d start at 3pm once my boyfriend is gone off to work and not finish until 3am or sooner. Shoot, maybe its a 10 hour shift. Damn. I can do this easy.
To add, a blank page on the screen never scares me considering how many notes I have on this whole project.
(Below are my 1st and 5th rejection letters)
Share this:
Tara B. Dobbs 