Rejection Ejection

I have been rejected a number of times in my life, and though it still burns sometimes, if I hadn’t been rejected, I probably wouldn’t be where I am now. For instance, I remember when I was a teenager. We had finally gotten our first computer, and I was allowed to write on it. Now, I had taken several typing classes so I knew how to use the writing applications on the computer, and writing on a device like this was way better than using the typewriter that I used to have. Every time I made a mistake on that, I would have to go back and retype it. You could only cover it up if you had some kind of white out.
So, using the computer, I started to write a story. I worked hard on this story, hoping to create a book that others wanted to read and generally enjoying seeing how the story turned out as I wrote it. I never really know how my stories will end. After a lot of work, I finished my book and made it look as good as I could during that time, hoping that it looked nice enough for a publishing company to accept it and turn it into a book.
E-books weren’t a thing back then, and the paperbooks available in my town were limited. There wasn’t an online ordering service that shipped them to your home, at least not one that I knew existed. Therefore, the way that you published a book was to find the publishers in a writer’s guide and send off a cover letter and the copy of the book so they could judge whether or not it fit their criteria. I did this several times. I sent my book to every notable company that I knew of that might accept it, and weeks later, I received quite a few letters, letting me know that my story wasn’t their cup of tea.
I felt deflated. I had spent so many hours coming up with my story and doing my best to learn the latest formatting techniques. I had researched the companies that I had sent my book to, and I had even gotten a hold of manila envelopes to send my script off. However, the only response that came back was a series of rejections. I was left without a publisher and with a completed manuscript that no one would ever read.
I continued to write and while I did that, I made a copy of my existing work, putting it in binders with protective sheet covers so my friends could read it at their convenience. I figured that if I did that, the book wouldn’t get lost, and this would give someone a chance to read it, even if it wasn’t a very big audience. My friends read through my work while I tried to figure out the publishing business, and to be honest years flew by before I did.
By the time I figured out that self-publishing was an option, I had already received so many rejection letters, even a few from one of my favorite publishers, that I needed a binder to hold them all. My dad had told me to keep them. He told me that a lot of people got rejected at first, and I suppose he thought they might be more meaningful down the road. To my surprise, he was right. These letters were more meaningful, because when I stepped foot into the publishing world, I knew that despite all of the barriers, I had finally made it.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I have never been an author that has been talked about on television or one that has such a large marketing campaign that you would see my work at every store. However, even though I haven’t hit that mark yet, doesn’t mean that I haven’t been successful. Success is measured in what you want to get out of the task you are doing, and I wanted my work to be seen and to make an income off of it. That slowly started to happen, and though I wasn’t making a million dollars or having one of my books signed to an up and coming movie, I felt good. I was able to do what I loved and support my family doing it.
This experience taught me to keep trying. Even though my work wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, that didn't mean that there wasn’t a little place in the world for it, and I found that there were some readers that actually liked it so much that they waited for my next release. This felt good, because I had worked so hard to make my passion work for me, and the blessings that I experienced after finally making it were worth the wait.