Hello everyone! I’m very delighted to have my very extra special friend Lauren Hawkeye here, at The Bradford Bunch. She’s a writer on the move, and by that I mean to the top! She’s recently had her first Spice Brief go on sale at Harlequin. Kudos to her and much thanks for stopping by!
WHY REJECTION ISN’T ALWAYS A BAD THING
“Wet”, my first Harlequin release, was written for a different publisher altogether. Answering a call for submissions for an anthology, I wrote a story titled “Urban Legend” and submitted to this publisher, who we will call Other. Urban Legend was rejected by Other, but the editor liked my voice and invited me to try again if I could squeeze another story out before the deadline.
Well, as far as I was concerned, this was IT. I poured everything that I was into that story, read it and reread a thousand times. When I finally hit send, I was certain, I had that feeling in my gut, that the editor would just love it.
Well, she did. But she loved four other stories more… and there wasn’t room for a fifth in the book.
I cried. I complained about the injustice of it all. I threatened to give up writing. I had been so SURE. Finally, the story was returned to my hard drive, where it languished for a good three months with nary a second glance. Nary a second glance, that is, until I unexpectedly found myself offered representation by an agent. Scrolling through said hard drive, I came across “Wet” and thought, what the heck. Tentatively I hit send again, this time to my agent.
She loved it. She sent it to Susan Pezzack Swinwood of Harlequin Spice Briefs, who loved it. And I was a happy girl.
Moral of the story? A rejection can be a good thing. A bigger, better thing. A making more money than you would at the first place thing. A building a reputation with your dream editor thing.
Has anyone else had a rejection that turned out well?
And, on a completely unrelated note, you should all check out Brenda Novak’s fifth annual online auction to benefit diabetes research, running for the entire month of May at Brenda Novak
Be there or be square!
Lauren’s first Spice Brief wet is available HERE:
April 25th, 2009 at 6:20 am
Hey chica! Awesome post btw! I like you, have had a relaitvely young career, but yes, have still had my share of R’s. Most memorable being, when I received 3 of them, on the same day….the day before I left for Nationals last summer. I was bummed. Sure I had an agent, sure she’d shopped my book, but still I couldn’t help but think…who the hell am I kidding?
Luckily for me…it wasn’t the bad omen I took it to be and well, I’m a happy lady too! I think R’s in a way weed out the strong from the weak…..the cream always rises to the top baby!
You just have to stick it out!
April 25th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Thanks Jules!
WEhich you were 
And yes, I remember that day… just like I remember that I told you you were being silly
April 25th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Hi Lauren…
Nope…had rejections that are bad. But that’s okay. I use them as stepping stones. I love when they come with a reason and not just a generic ‘it sucks’…
On the plus side, i’ve got some great crit partners and friends whom i know i can count on, to push me in the right direction.
Nini
April 25th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Nini- I agree, your crit partners are awesome
As are mine, hee hee hee! You’re so close my dear! Those panthers are going to be IT!
April 25th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Hey Lauren - great post. As you know, I’ve had my fair share of rejection and then some. My most painful was five rejections within four hours. Talk about depressing. But the best rejection I ever had was with an offer to submit something else (kind of like you). I had a novella languishing on the hard drive - like you. I thought…what the heck? Sent it off and it resulted in my first sale. So yes, I totally agree with you - rejection isn’t always a bad thing. It’s what you do after the rejection that counts.
April 25th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Lauren, your writing, as usual, absorbs me. Or is it I absorb it….no matter, I totally agree on rejection. Although my novel was not languishing on my hard drive, more I was languishing on my novel but there WAS a hard drive and a rejection involved. Bottom line…that rejection, though disheartening at first, drove me to try harder, write better and fall to my knees in gratitude for the best crit partners around. Whoever they may be…
April 26th, 2009 at 5:51 am
Rejection is hard but having the right peeps to help u along the way is golden.
April 26th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Lauren,
Nicely done. Reading you post, I keep thinking back to the story about Stephen King keeping his stack of rejections pinned to the wall (according to various legends, either with a dagger or a railroad tie). He eventually got there…and you will, too! Regards, Grace
P.S. Sirens rock!
April 26th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Hi Lauren! Great to meet you!! I too heard that some say that some books fit with one publisher than another. So like you said, it may not be made for that Other publisher but it came with the one that was right for it! Congrats!
April 27th, 2009 at 5:04 am
Hi, Lauren! Hurray that your Brief is out!