Well, as far as days go, today was not that great. I have a story (my first ever written story) that consistently ranks in the top ten of contests and has been solicted from partials.
But, damnit, for the life of me I can’t find an agent to represent it! 
Today I went to check my mail and found three (yes, three!) agent rejections for this work. Personalized, very nice rejections, but rejections all the same. That has been my history with this particular story. Agents “enjoy” it but don’t take it on. They want me to send something else instead. In my experience, finding an agent has been harder than getting published. Most agents these days seem to want you to sell your story on your own and then call them to represent you after you have the contract in hand. So many stories I hear about writers who finally snag the agent of their dreams by first selling their work to the publisher directly.
For several moments I was despondent.
And then I went to my computer, pulled up another story that was solicited by a publisher, and read it. Within moments I felt better. I hadn’t re-read the story in months, having moved on to other stories, and I was surprised at how much I like it. I remembered slowly that I’m pretty talented, people like what I write, and the story I can’t sell is my first. Have I gotten better since then? Certainly.
I have a quote on the right of this page:
“You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you’re working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if you persist.”
–Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)
And that’s what I’ll do. I’ll continue to polish it and send it out until there’s no one left to send it to. In the meantime I’ll write and sell my other stories. I’ll keep my head up. I’ll remember that Jayne Ann Krentz wrote seventeen novels before she sold her first one. I’ll remember that I’ve already sold and I’m nowhere near seventeen stories yet. I’ll remember that everyone gets rejected during their careers from Stephen King to Nora Roberts. I’ll remember that the rejections are personal and encouraging. I’ll refuse to be despondent.
Still, rejection sure does sting sometimes. 
