Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Thank goodness for rejection

I'm almost finished the last of my edits before heading into query land.

I've been there before, but I've only visited for short periods of time. In total I think I had about ten to fifteen rejections. This time I'm planning on staying for a while.

When I read my earlier drafts of my book, all I can think is, thank goodness I was rejected, because I wouldn't have wanted that version to be my first book.

I've learned so much since I started writing this book. It has completely changed and this time I think it might have a chance. But even if it doesn't, I know I can write another book and it will be even better.

So thank goodness all of the agents I sent my first drafts to were smart enough to realize it wasn't ready.

How about you? Are you glad your first drafts weren't published?

13 comments:

Wendy Paine Miller said...

Absolutely! That would be Halloween scary to see some of those in print.

Boo.
~ Wendy

Anne Gallagher said...

Yes. I'm so glad my first book was rejected. But the funny part is, that first book garnered more requests than any of the others I've sent out combined. I wonder if that says something about my queries or my writing itself?
Hmmm.

Jessica Nelson said...

Hahaa, oh yes! But now...I'm still worried about the one that will be pubbed!!!
I'm not sure the insecurity ever goes away, but I hope it spurs me to always try and become better.

Candice said...

YES! So glad. Maybe I'll feel that way about my current book someday too, but for now at least I know it's my best. Good luck querying. I'm right there with you.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

LOL. You need yo go read this post:
http://kdandersonbooks.blogspot.com/

It's very similar to yours. And yes, I am VERY thankful my book was rejected in the earlier drafts. :-)

Christina Lee said...

Totally and completely! *shivers*

Chantele Sedgwick said...

YES! *shudders* Seriously. It was a blessing in disguise. :)

Carol Riggs said...

How wise of you to realize that!! Yep, I'm sooooo glad my first novels weren't published. About 10 of them. :)

Kasie West said...

I think about this all the time. My very first book was very scary. Not the subject matter, but the attempt at a compelling story. Yikes. I'm so glad it's not in the world. And speaking of firsts, my first query letters were quite embarrassing as well. I really, really hope they aren't save under 'worst query letters of all time' in some agent's inbox.

Stina said...

I'm just glad NO ONE has seen any of my first drafts. :D

Heidi Willis said...

Congrats!!! I'm so excited that you are so close to querying! I've been waiting for this forever! :)

I'm certainly glad the book I'm working on now wasn't picked up when I thought it was done a year ago. I think I got a handful of rejections, but it's now a completely different book. I cringe as I'm revising, looking at what I wrote before.

I just hope I'm not cringing a year from now at what I'm writing today!

Melissa Hurst said...

Good luck with querying!

Oh yes, I'm so glad I never queried my first book. Looking back, it wasn't ready and I've learned so much since I wrote it. If everything goes well, I'll start querying my current project before the end of the year.

Katie Anderson said...

How weird, Patti! We are like cyber twins :)))

Needless to say, I TOTALLY agree!