~Nora Profit
Last June I finished my first Young Adult novel, When Darkness Falls. Of course, being the way I am, never wanted it to see the light of day. But, Dennie, Michelle, Brenda, Geri (all writer friends of mine) and, of course, GW kept after me as to why I wouldn’t submit it to an editor or agent. “Put it out there. Get some feedback. See what happens.”
But it sucks, I cried. It’s awful, I moaned. It needs more revision, I whined.
So it sat. Hid under my cyber bed for almost a year. I tried to forgetaboutit. And almost succeeded.
Until…
At the beginning of each year, my local RWA chapter has us make our goals for the new year. I diligently wrote out mine. Two of them included:
I really wanted to attend Nationals.
I really wanted to attend Nationals in PRO status.
But in order to attend in PRO status meant I had to actually submit – and get rejected – by an editor or an agent.
And I wanted my PRO status. I wanted it bad enough to take the plunge and send my first novel baby out into the world.
As Dennie, said, ‘It’s a win-win situation. If it gets excepted, you win. You get published. If it gets rejected, you win. You get PRO’. And the benefits of being PRO are so worth it in the long run.
I thought about it for awhile and with Dennie and Michelle and Brenda and Geri, and of course, GW’s prodding and pushing and encouragment, I worked up my query letter, attached the required pages and, holding my breath, clicked the send button!
In today’s digital world, it doesn’t take long for answers and I got mine back swiftly. My first rejection letter! You can’t imagine how excited I was. With the help of our chapter’s president and PRO liason, the required paperwork was submitted to RWA and I received the notice Friday that I now have PRO status in the RWA publishing world.
Now, you may be thinking that getting rejected is a bad thing. Well, it’s not.
So wonderfully put in the email GW sent when I announced the good news:
It is one more step toward my ultimate goal.
Thanks, Babe!
~Sandy
