Post song: Prince of Egypt – When You Believe
Alright perhaps the topic isn’t totally accurate. While I blogged on Overcoming Rejections in 2021, I don’t see a 2022 post on rejections. BUT I couldn’t think of a better word, so I’ll just leave ‘annual’! In this field of ours where rejections grace us at every step of the process, I suspect the topic can be said to be evergreen.
So this post was one I felt I needed to write because I know rejection/passes is something many people are struggling with. In the query trenches especially.
But writing it didn’t come easy to me. You see, I woke up a few days ago and looked at my ‘scheduled posts’ to see that I had only one post left. I had to think of a topic to blog on. (Not cause I have to but because I love to!) And the topic I felt more connected to blog on was about rejections.
But I wasn’t too sure of what to say about rejection without sounding superficial.
And then the night before today, I received a submissions update from my agent. While there is good news tucked in there, we also got a handful of passes. I expected this. I am praying for an offer, but I don’t expect every editor to offer, so there would surely be passes. After I read the email, I told my sister about the update. She gave a word of encouragement, but quickly, I put the passes/email aside and got lost in the story I was reading.
It’s funny how sometimes your subconscious still feels emotions you aren’t aware of (or just don’t want to feel ha).
I thought I was good and had moved on. The passes weren’t much and my agent left a really encouraging message with it. Yet when I woke this morning, it was with a very heavy heart.
I didn’t even have the will to get out of bed. I was so surprised by this despondency because as I said, I felt fine last night and thought today, I’d just move back on to hoping and writing.
But I found myself feeling so so sad. I thought, alright, this is a good time to write this rejection posts so you can really connect with anyone facing the same and also let the feeling go. I picked up my phone—and I had no zeal to blog. Zilch.
I thought about the book 3 project I’m working on and fretted that I won’t be able to go on writing it now, with all this uncertainty in the air.
What did I do next?
I knew I couldn’t pull myself up on my own. I’ve had those days of rejections during querying when I woke up and my heart was too heavy to get out of bed so I stayed there until noon, when I finally felt better. But I didn’t want that to be the case again. So I closed my eye and prayed to God to help me, to comfort me. Shortly after the prayer, I found myself brushing off the bedsheets and getting out of bed.
I turned on worship music as I did my chores, but my heart was so heavy even as I sang. I tried to tell myself that other editors are still reading the manuscript. Chin up, fighter. But I couldn’t manage it. Doubts and fear had wedged themselves in my chest. I’ve been on subs before, there were many close calls that ultimately went nowhere. Who’s to say that won’t happen again?
And so I placed down my chore tools, and went to pray. I didn’t intend to cry. I felt sad yeah, but it wasn’t the type of sadness where you start bawling. It’s just when you’re sad sad. But as I started to pray, all the fear and doubts flowed out as tears. I broke my own heart because I recalled being in a similar position over the years with querying, losing an agent, book dying on subs, and so on.
But the more I prayed… the stronger I started to feel. It felt like the Lord comforted and encouraged me. And before I knew it, my hope was back. Fragile and tentative, but back. Perhaps crying had let out the heaviness I’d carried.
This time, I was truly able to focus on the positives of the situation. And to believe again that someone out there would think my story was just right. I was able to pick up my laptop and write a whopping 6000 words through the afternoon in Book 3! All the while completely obsessed with the story and not thinking at all of passes. It was amazing!
So in addition to the tips in my 2021 post on overcoming rejections, I’m listing this. Praying really, truly helps when facing rejections on the path. 🩷
Lucia's Fiction 
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