Rejection

This week I worked so hard to get the first 50 pages of my book edited so I could submit a proposal to agents. After completing the editing process which took long hours and total discipline, I decide to go fishing and see if I could get some interest. Afterall I did have something tangible to submit to an agent even if the book is still in process. So I wrote a brief email and sent it to about a dozen agents. As I pushed the send button on each email I felt the pit of possible rejectoin in my belly but at the same time felt the exhileration of the possibility of acceptance in my heart.
Rejection is a very hard emotion to feel. Most of our lives we hold back because of the fear of failure and rejection. But now at this stage in my life I have felt enough rejection to let the slam of a door push me to open another. They say it takes 100 no-s to get a yes. It takes making one more call or sending one more email after you have exhausted your energy to make it happen. It reminds me of the miner who stopped one feet from the gold, sold his claim and the next person became rich. Never stop when you believe in something and never stop believing in yourself. It's only when we give up that we fail.
So I have now started to recieve my rejection letters. Two to be exact. However the rejections differ. The first rejection was from a woman who chastised me for using her first name in the greeting of my email. She went on ranting and raving about how I did not even know her. How dare I address her by her first name! Then she went on to let me know that my questions ( how would she like me to submit the proposal) were stupid. She wrote a whole page of half strung together sentences that did not make any sense at all. The email was the equivalent of an 8x11 page. I wanted to email back and tell her she did not know me well enough to send such a lengthy email, but I refrained. None of her sentences were complete or made any sense. And this woman promoted herself as a professional literary agent!
Then I received another rejection email.Everything was friendly and on first name basis. The agent thanked me for the query and said it was not for them but that I should not take this as a rejection of my work. It just did not fit with their need at this time. They ecouraged me to submit to other agents because," it only takes one yes to make it happen."
So I have received 2 rejections and if the statistics are right only 98 more and I'll get my yes. Remember in life there is a nice way to handle matters and a nasty way. Karma doesn't happen immeditely but it is true that life does become what life does. Stay tuned for the next chapter.