I received my first rejection letter for Wretched after returning home from a quick business trip to Phoenix. One of my mentors, Sharon Kay Penman, has always said that writers waiting for responses from agents or editors is like dangling and twisting slowly on tenterhooks (an idiom for being in a state of uneasiness, suspense, or anxiety). I was not very nervous and had already prepared for the possibility that I was bound to be rejected multiple times before finding the right agent. It was a little disheartening to get a strip of paper with two sentences addressed to “Dear Writer” – but alas, such is the cruel fate of a writer. As soon as I received the rejection, I went down my list and targeted the next agent to submit to, who wants the first 50 pages as well as a synopsis. So, on the way home from work I need to pick up some more computer paper (didn’t realize we were almost out) and will target this next agent. I also e-mailed Betsy Mitchell, the editor-in-chief of Del Rey, who I know from the Deep Magic days, and she suggested two more agents to try who represent YA fantasy authors.
As Napoleon Hill wrote:
“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”
I’m leaving for China next week, so I should be saved the tenterhooks of waiting for the response because I’ll be too sleep deprived to care!
