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"Rejected" - Photo by Oppet2 |
Well, 50 Days have come and gone, and I'm still not rich or famous. However, I am a little closer to fulfilling my dream. As many of you know, back on June 19th, Father’s Day, I made my first official submission to a publishing company – Black Library – in honor of my father. Black Library has a policy that they don’t send out rejection letters, instead, you have to wait 8 weeks after the submission deadline – in this case June 30th - and if you haven’t heard from them during that time period, then you can consider your submission rejected.
Today marks the end of that particular quest for me. Rejected.
Surprisingly, I feel pretty good, despite the rejection. Obviously, if given the choice, I would much rather they had accepted my submission, but not all is lost. The process of getting material ready for submission was a great learning experience. For one, I learned how to write with a deadline looming over my head. Granted, I had experienced this many times before in college, but its one thing to be under pressure to write for a good grade, it’s quite another when the future of your career is on the line. I also learned the importance of having a solid Synopsis and Summary, required elements by most publishers.
Most importantly, in the end, I have over 8,000 words of science fiction written that I feel very proud of, and while Hawk Rancore may never grace the pages of Black Library, he will always hold a special place in my memory banks. Writing is never a waist, published or not. The process of developing interesting characters, a solid story arc, and a seamless plot lend themselves to good practice. Like many other aspects of our lives, sometimes we learn and grow much more from failing than succeeding.