When rejection is hard to swallow

I know rejection is supposed to be good.

It teaches you how to be resilient and overcome obstacles.

But perhaps I’ve been rejected one too many times because it’s getting harder and harder to swallow. I’m a writer and my dream has always been to publish a book. I know the publishing industry is a tough nut to crack. It’s very competitive. You have to meet the right agent or editor at the right time. You have to be persistent. All the stars have to align.

I’ve been sending my picture book manuscript around to agents and editors for several months. I keep a list of all the people I’ve emailed and all the rejections I receive so I don’t end up being rejected by the same editor twice. The worst part is the waiting. It takes weeks, if not months, for your work to be reviewed; for the rejection letter to arrive.

I’d like to give up. It would be easy. It might feel nice, even, to have nothing to go after. But then I look at my kids faces. Every time I check my email they ask hopefully, “Does someone want to publish your book?”

I hate disappointing them when the answer is always “no.”

So today I’m making a change. The next time my kids ask, I’m going to say “Yes, boys, my book is going to be self-published.”

With encouragement from friends and family, I created a job posting and listed it at a local art college. I began receiving emails from aspiring artists right away and found one whose work caught my attention.

Next, I have to decide whether to go with a self-publishing company that takes care of the art, layout, distribution and promotion or experiment with a free online publisher, like Amazon. It’s confusing and I’m not sure which approach is best, but now I’m determined to achieve my goal on my own terms.

Even if my book sells online for 99 cents, at least I’ll have taken control of my fate. Maybe rejection was good after all.