Rejection

I received my first rejection from an agent today. I shrug it off (more or less) and say that is a part of the game. Not everyone is going to love what I've written and want to take it on. It takes only one, it takes only one, I chant.

I am heartened that I have generally moved beyond the form rejection. Today's rejection was short and sweet and I'm holding onto the words "your writing is strong" with both arms. When I first started writing and submitting to editors, the rejection letters really brought me down. I started out, like most writers, getting form rejections. When, one day, I opened my mailbox, tore open the SASE to find... A PERSONAL REJECTION. My name was on it, the title of my manuscript and ever heartening words, “I hope you will send me more work in the future.” Okay, so it wasn’t all that encouraging, or all that personal, and it was still a rejection, but I had made a step up from the dreaded Form Rejection. And since I live by the philosophy of CELEBRATE THE LITTLE THINGS, I do just that. See me holding onto those words?

The search is far from over.

The Search Begins

The querying has begun in my quest for an agent. The star of the show, It's Coming Down! is a middle grade novel set in the early 1900s during the height of coal production in Carbon County, Utah.

This story means a lot to me. Inspired by my dad who spent hours talking with me about his experiences in the mines and living in a coal camp in Spring Canyon, I have tried to bring to light the every day life of a coal miner in the early days of mining.

I hope those who are reading my manuscript (or parts of it) are enjoying the story of Mitch and his struggle to find his place in a world from which his pa has tried to protect him.