Rejection letters - they may look like simple pieces of paper but in reality, the words contained within them have the power to stall a writing career and sometimes stop it all together.  It really depends on how you take rejection - whether it becomes a learning experience or just another depressing moment.  As a writer for nearly twenty-one years, I have a VERY large collection of rejection letters.  Hundreds of them, stuffing a file in my cabinet - a constant reminder that what I wrote wasn't quite right, or "might be better suited to a different market." 

Years ago, I took those form letters personally.  Ninety-nine percent of what I sent out returned accompanied by a "Dear Writer" letter, the literary equivalent of "Dear John."  After a hundred or so letters like that, I quit
writing.  I turned off the word processor, tossed my Writer's Market and ventured into a different career as a teacher.

But, the burning urge to write kept simmering inside me, popping up during my free moments and filling pages of notebooks.  I started writing my first Harlequin romance novel, with no intentions of sending it out.  You see,
there was this story that I had to tell, a woman and a man in my head that wouldn't leave me alone until I got every word out.

That book sat in a closet for maybe two years, collecting dust and yellowing at the corners.  When a student of mine asked to see something I had written, I pulled it out and started to read.  Despite all the time that had passed, I found that I still loved that story.  And for the first time, I began to hope that someone else might, too.
 I sent it out and waited with baited breath.  It came back two months later, accompanied by a rejection letter.  But, this one was different.  It was actually addressed to me and said that I had some talent.  At the end, the glorious words, "please send us something else," resurrected the hope that had almost died when I opened the envelope.

I wrote another book, and another.  Both were rejected, for various reasons.  Each came back with encouraging words, telling me I was on the right track.    In the meantime, I was sending out queries on non-fiction magazine articles.  I sold two articles in one day, and am now at the point where I sell at least a dozen articles a month.  I might send out 30 queries a month, with 29 coming back attached to form letters.  But, that one that comes back with a contract is enough to keep me licking stamps and filling another 30 envelopes. And the romance novel? Well, I finally sold one--the eighth manuscript I've written--at the end of 2001, an early Christmas present from Silhouette.

What you as a writer need to learn is that rejection is a learning tool. The form letters are no help - they give no indication of whether your work was just there at the wrong time or whether you should just keep your day
job.  The ones that actually include a few statements about the manuscript, and about you as a writer, are the ones that offer a mini-education.  Puzzle over them, analyze them, even cry over them for a moment or two.
But, most importantly, LEARN from them.  If you receive a personal letter from an editor, take comfort in the fact that someone out there took enough time to actually type your name at the top and add some encouraging words.

Editors don't HAVE to do this, they CHOOSE to do it.  It never gets easy to put yourself on the line and send out a query or manuscript, hoping for a phone call instead of a letter.  Being a writer is really about taking chances and showing your mettle.  The ones who have a few battle scars and dents in their armor are the ones who eventually emerge victorious.

That could be you one day.  Keep that in mind the next time you open your mailbox.

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