Rejection

   Not only did I have to deal with sick kids yesterday, but I got my fifth rejection. I know 'they' say that rejection doesn't mean much, that you have to have a thick skin to be a part of this business, and that pretty much all writers received tons of rejections before their first novel was published.
   That doesn't stop it from stinging just a little bit.
   No one likes to be rejected. I watched the Bachelorette finale last night and was thinking about how people who go on that show barely know the Bachelor/Bachelorette who they are fighting to win in the end. And yet, they still feel hurt and disappointed when they are rejected and kicked off the show.
   This isn't that much different. Agents know me not at all, and at most they've read the first chapter or two of my book, but I'm still being rejected for whatever reason. I think that's the hardest part- that I don't know the reason. It could be my title, my word count, the synopsis in my query letter, or the query letter as a whole. It could be my credentials (or lack thereof) or the fact that I either didn't include personal information about them or that I did and it seems like I'm brown-nosing. Or maybe they make it past all that and it's my book after all- at least the first 5-10 pages which is the most I'm allowed to send.
   That is what makes this business- and rejections- tough. Because if I knew what was wrong, what I had to fix or work on, then I would do it 100 percent. But I get no feedback whatsoever and therefore have to keep on like I am and hope that I just haven't found the right person yet and that they are out there somehwere, just waiting for a book like mine.
   I hope I don't sound whiny. I realize that agents are inundated with hundreds, sometimes thousands of query letters and that there is no possible way they can spend time giving feedback to each one. I'm just commenting on the difficulty of it all and how, no matter what anyone says, rejections still sting.
   All writers say don't give up. I'm not giving up. Because deep down I believe in my book. I love my book. I'm passionate about it and I want other people to read it and love it like I do.