Submission Strategy: Aim for 100 Rejections (or more)

a Roundtable Discussion led by Kathy Halsey

 

Back in 2019 I was commiserating with writing friend, Beth Gallagher about "rejection." As it turned out, she had been having a similar conversation with another author, a friend who happened to be a best-seller. Beth remembers complaining that she “might not be meant to write.” Her friend said that his first book had been rejected 47 times before it was published, and was now being made into a movie. He encouraged her to wallow only after the 100th rejection. 

As we talked, the kernel of an idea began to form. Why not create a group to support each other as we aim to reach 100 rejections? So that’s what we did in January 2019. I announced it on the GROG and invited folks to join.

Now we have 64 members who support and motivate each other. We invited a few of them over to the GROG blog share thoughts about aiming high for rejections. Hanging out at the blog with me today are Beth, Dedra Davis, Patti Richards, and fellow GROGger, Sue Heavenrich.

Kathy Halsey

Kathy: Welcome and thanks for joining us today. My reaction to 100 rejections was, why not? Beth and I wanted accountability and I like doing things in a BIG way. What was your reaction to the idea of 100 rejections being a good thing?

Beth: One of the things I realized was how subjective this business is, and that it truly is a numbers game. And that I needed to get my nose back to the grindstone.

Dedra: I have two words that keep me going—Fail Forward. Sending out 100 queries and, most likely, receiving 100 rejections fall into my theme of failing forward. I’ve sent 90 this year; and I’ve been collecting rejections for over two years now.

Patti Richards 

Patti: Having been in the submission trenches for many years, the idea of a group dedicated solely to encouraging each other to keep submitting makes me so happy! Having a place to share successes and "declinations," submission opportunities, and lots of "You can do this!” means  everything!

Sue: I thought the idea was brilliant. I could not wait to flip my perspective on the submissions game, and going for rejections would definitely do that. Even though it sounds crazy, I get it: the more you submit, the more chance there is of someone saying YES.

Kathy: By making an outrageous goal, somehow subbing felt less serious to me and gave me freedom not to take the process so solemnly. How did having a goal of 100 rejections change the way you submit?

Beth Gallagher

Beth: Having 100 rejections first made me imagine get enough of them to decoupage an entire wall of my studio. Like Kathy, that goal gave me the freedom to keep on trying without feeling like I’m failing.

Dedra: It’s a challenge I give myself; it keeps me researching and sending queries out throughout the year. I like a challenge. I feel like the ball is in my court when I query and hit send. Then, of course, it’s up to the agent.

Patti: In this business, rejections, no matter where you are on your journey can sting. Seasoned writers develop a thick skin over time, or at least they should. Changing the way you think about rejection really helps with this! Having this "reverse" goal means you've come to a point where you realize that without rejection, there can be no success. 

Sue: Having this challenge spurred me to become more organized. I drew a 10-by-10 grid at the back of my desk calendar and numbered each square. Each time I submitted, I checked off a box. What a feeling of accomplishment! Each check represented a potential rejection! By the end of 2019, I’d gathered more than 90 rejections and four “Yesses” – assignments for articles.

Kathy: The real test is whether aiming for those rejections helped us succeed. For me, I did succeed by accepting every opportunity for a “yes” in 2019. My successes include a #PBChat 2109 mentorship, an opportunity to work for Storyteller Academy, and doing author studies for ReFoReMo. (No “yes” yet, but I feel it’s coming.) What about everyone else?

Beth: Since it IS a numbers game, the aim of getting 100 rejections ensures my odds of achieving either that number or publication! As for success, it’s achieving the goals I set for myself. If we don’t have confidence in our own work, how can we expect others to? I’m thrilled that so many writers both published and nonpublished have joined our merry band FB group! It’s so nice to have a place to vent, chat, share opportunities, and meet new friends.

Dedra Davis

Dedra: To me, success is having an agent and a book deal – and a career of ongoing book deals. I haven’t succeeded yet. YET! But I will, and the 100 rejections keep the challenge and me moving forward and failing forward. What I really want is kids holding my book. saying, “Read it again!" To that end, I’m participating in Julie Hedlund’s 12 X 12 Picture Book Challenge. So far, I have twenty manuscripts from this year: I’m constantly revising and writing new stories. One day, when the time is right, I’ll have plenty of manuscripts to offer an agent. 

Patti: Absolutely! I've actually lost track of how many rejections I've had since joining this group, even though I have an Excel spreadsheet filled with them. I'm pretty sure I've hit the 100 mark or am close to it! Having this goal has kept me moving forward in the face of some pretty disappointing rejections since we formed the group. "Moving forward" is now how I define success, and it's all due to having something to shoot for besides those coveted contracts! Since this group began, I've sold 3 picture books! MRS. NOAH (Little Lamb Books) releases on October 5th! And I’m still submitting – let those “declinations” roll in!

Sue Heavenrich

Sue: Aiming for rejection put less pressure on me to get a “yes” – and without that pressure the fear of “failure” disappeared. Sending out 5 subs a week gave me a rhythm for submitting. It gave me tons of practice writing query letters. It gave me a tremendous feeling of accomplishment that I’d gotten 90-ish subs out the door. To me, success is all about showing up. Being willing to do the work. And having faith in my stories. One of those potential rejections, a nonfiction book proposal, now has a title and is slated for release in 2022. 

Kathy: I gain momentum and inspiration from being in this group of strong, talented, resilient writers. You can join us at 100 Rejections Are a Good Thing. Start racking up the trail of “nos” that lead to “yes.” You can do it!

Bustin' Out with 2019 - Make It Your Year - by Kathy Halsey

Nothing but blue skies at the rodeo today. The year is still fresh, your intentions are good; you have saddled up your pony for a successful ride up the writing road. Hold your horses, writer gals and guys. I rounded up some help for you while you mosey down the trail.  

Anti- Resolutions Revolution

Back at the ranch house, Julie Foster Hedlund gave us some provisions for the trail. You might call it "food for thought." Back in 2014, I began participating in Julie's 12 Days of Christmas for Writers. (web site here and FB group here) From December 26 -January 6, we come together to review/reflect on our writing year to refresh/renew ourselves for a new year. The Facebook group closes January 10, 2019, but circle Dec. 26, 2019  on your calendar so you can join us at the year's end. Julie believes that most resolutions come from a place of negativity so we began with surprises, successes, move to challenges and disappointments, what we learned from both and then build goals from last year's achievements. This year 503 children's writers joined the fun. 

I'll share my illuminations from the process and the ripples of change that are already coming to fruition for me and others writers.   

Surprise

“A surprise is an extra gift over and above what you set out to achieve.” -Julie Hedlund 

One of the best surprises that continues this year is that Beth Stilborn and I became accountability buddies. Every Monday we email our weekly accomplishments and our intentions for the coming week. We're not critique partners; we don't even write for the same age group! Beth lives in Canada and I'm in the Midwest, but we were surprised by this great motivator and wonderful friendship. You might try this, too.

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Guiding Word/Motto for 2019

Some writers created vision boards; many of us came up with  a word/phrases to guide our writing and goals. Words like "Power," "Treasure" "Fearless" were claimed. One writer said, "I want to treasure what has been given to me, like friends in the writing community, opportunities, ideas, and time to write. I want to treasure the process and let ideas grow organically into the stories they were meant to be." Beth came up with this formula: FOCUS plus FOLLOW-THROUGH leads to FRUITION.

The cover page to my 12 Days features my guiding phrase.

   

Ripple Effect

Most of my critique group participated in this challenge and we've revised and renewed some of our procedures. During our first online 2019 meeting we came up with these ideas.

• Post a calendar on Google docs and sign up for a critique. Commit to the date.
• Commit to writing sprints every first Thursday of the month.
• Create our own missions statements for the year and share online for greater accountability.
• Change up our critique style by using Manuscript Magic. Look at big picture items first. Give themes, motifs, goals for the manuscript. 

Another writer friend and member of 12 Days, Beth Gallagher   and I decided we wanted to submit more in 2019. With accountability as a key, we created the Facebook group 100 Rejections Are a Good Thing. Join us and go big in this year's writing rodeo. 

Finally, some folks were inspired to write poetry and share with the group. Derick Wilder reminded us that small steps lead to success with this poem.

The Mighty Teeny Tiny

Teeny Tiny isn’t much— 
shy, timid, brittle.
But Teeny Tiny 
can become,
possibly,
a Little.

Now Little’s also 
no big deal,
but better
than before.
And if you add 
those Littles up,
you get 
a little More.

More is less
than you would like,
but treasure 
what you’ve got.
Just lay some Mores
end-to-end
and then you’ve got
a Lot.

So dream delightful, 
vibrant dreams— 
make them 
sheeny shiny.
But don’t forget
each begins
with but a
Teeny Tiny

Gratitude

Julie had us end our 12 days with a list of gratitude. The gratitude attitude is one we can all cultivate as we grow into 2019. I am grateful to Julie and all the writers who shared so much over these 12 days. 

"Remember to illuminate your writing life, shine a light on the dark places, but even more, the light places, those where we excel." Julie Hedlund 

As Jane Yolen reminds us in her book Sister Fox's Field Guide to the Writing Life, "The joy is in the process."

    

Winning the Prize ~ by Beth Gallagher

In April, the GROG had its Launch Party on Facebook. Beth Gallagher won the Nonfiction Archaeology prize, a "How-to-write-nonfiction-picture-books" course facilitated by Kristen McGill Fulton. I ask Beth to submit a post about her experience. This is what she said about the class and the prize.

From the desk of Beth Gallagher:

 

You know how your grandma always told you when life gives you lemons - make lemonade? Well, even if yours didn’t, mine said it enough for all of us. Turns out, sometimes its not so easy to squeeze the juice out of those babies! Writing has always been my way of making lemonade, whether it was journals, stories, magazine articles, or books.

 

The past few years have been a lemon-filled period of life for me. It went straight from the pure electric joy of adopting my precious daughters to the complete heart stopping terror of nearly losing one of them to a serious illness. All the while, I wrote. Sometimes uplifting and happy pieces, sometimes not so happy, occasionally dark and depressing stuff, but finally it was like I was trying to swim through Jello.

 

The dreaded writers’ block descended. I joined several social media groups for writers and creative people, and through them I’ve met some friends that turned out to be my glowing guides through the darkness – whether they know it or not. I was directed by one in particular (Jackie Wellington who invited me to read and comment daily on the GROG which I am glad I did.). And through the miracle of my friends' support and the GROG contest,  I was able to win the prize of the Nonfiction Archaeology class which I attended in April. (Don’t tell anyone, but apparently I’m addicted and am attending the June class as well.)

 

Let me just say that the whole thing was a slice of Heaven on my computer! Kristen is such a gifted writer and teacher! She is so organized and clear thinking that it seems to ooze out of the keyboard and into my own hands.  The class is very comprehensive in its scope and covers nonfiction writing so completely from the elementary level to advanced that it no longer scares me! I’ve been able to create a binder of all Kristen’s lessons and information that keep me focused when the lemons start to build up. I’m truly so grateful to my online “peeps” - Twitter to Facebook, from my critique groups to new friendships and Grog for saving me from myself, refocusing me on what I love to do, and for guiding me back to what I know can be a new career.

 

If you are at all interested in writing nonfiction (though a lot of Kristen’s information and advice can also be applied to fiction writing), I strongly recommend that you run not walk straight to her Nonfiction Archaeology class! You can find more information here: http://www.kristenfulton.org/nonfiction-class.html. I’m also happy to answer any of your questions about the class as a past & present student. Feel free to email me at semayawi.toadcottage@gmail.com.