Stay Calm and Write On

Getting published was a dream come true. I was on a writing high. I signed five contracts in six months, I was on top of the world.

Then I started getting rejected, a lot. Ideas that I thought were great and novels that I thought were awesome were getting turned down over and over again. I loved them, my beta readers loved them, but the publishers didn't.

It's hard to deal with. It's so hard to see your work being rejected over and over again. It's tough to read the critiques and it's really hard when they don't tell you anything at all, just that you're not what they're currently looking for.

I know there's a publisher out there for my books, even the crazy and completely 'out there' ones. If i don't find them now, I'll find them eventually.

The side effect to rejection, at least for me, is writers block. I lose confidence for a few days and I can't for the life of me think of anything new. I can work on old stuff, edit and continue one with previously started stories, but I can't build a new one. That lasts for a few days, then I can write again. It's the circle of creativity, as I call it.

I may feel like there's no point in writing more or sending my stuff off to new publishers, but I'll pick up my socks, get inspired and keep on writing, because that's what we authors do : we write on.