Sometimes pain leads to happiness. So does
rejection.
Last January, my agent sent an email to her
romance writers that Carina Press had a call out for Christmas novellas. She listed the
desired word count and other particulars. It's a chance to move ahead to a larger
publisher, I thought, and interest sparked.
So, I wrote like a fiend to meet the
deadline ... and got rejected.
A step backward.
I’ll confess the rejection stung. It was my
first and brought along a passel of self-doubts. When I told my agent to send
the manuscript back so I could rework it, she claimed she’d already sent Santa Wore Leathers on to other
publishers. I groaned inwardly. More rejection was bound to come.
A month later, a contract offer came from
HarperImpulse. Ah, a step forward.
The next week, my agent called again. “Vonnie,
I need the first three chapters of that paranormal you’re working on. Oh, and a
synopsis. An editor at Random House loved your novella, but since you’ve
already got a contract, she asked if you had anything else she could see. Isn’t
that great?”
Irritation rolled in my stomach. “What have
you done? This paranormal is my play story. I piddle with it whenever I hit a
rough spot in my current WIP. It’s not meant for publication. I don’t write
paranormal. It’s just a play story.” I was repeating myself out of nervous fear.
“Well, play story or not, we’ve got another
Big Six editor interested. Send me the three chapters and write up a synopsis.”
I felt myself sliding backwards. How could I
write a synopsis of nothing?
The editor at Random House loved A Highlander's Beloved--bear shifters and all--and contracted it, offering options on three more. A big step forward.
Rejection can be a step backward. Or in my
case, a few steps forward. Santa Wore
Leathers led to a three-book contract from Harper-Impulse.
2014’s going to
be a busy year. I hope yours if full of steps forward, too.
** Learn more about Vonnie at www.vonniedavis.com
