No.

Never has there been so much power behind two simple letters. No. To the average person, it's a denial and let's face it: no one likes being denied. But for those who pour their souls into words on a page, the word 'no' is nothing short of earth shattering devastation.

I have no idea how many writers craft amazing stories that never make it to print. It could be a lot, but I know for sure that it's not zero. And in a world starved for new Intellectual Property, it breaks my heart to know there are amazing tales that we will never experience.

If you've read this far and aren't sure what I'm talking about, allow me to explain. Completing a story, or any work of art, is a beautiful thing. It is the act of giving away part of yourself in the hopes of making connections with an audience you may never meet. Unless you show your work to other people, all you're doing is writing in a diary. Which is fine, of course, but no connections can be made if you don't put your words in front of someone else. No, if you want your stories to be seen you have to get them published.

Thankfully, there are terabytes of data on the internet about how one goes about getting published, so I'll only gloss over it here for novel writers. As always, your mileage may vary.

There are two ways to get a book published. Do it yourself through Amazon or some other self-publishing site, or get traditionally published. Unless you're doing something devious or trying to cut corners, all the 'no's come from trying to get traditionally published.

Assuming your book is written and edited to the best of your ability, the first step is to find an agent. Once you do, the REAL trick is getting an agent to take you on. That means that the universe has aligned in a way that will allow this other person to be the champion for your book. They are the ones who will approach editors and major publishers as they try to sell your novel. I'm sure that is an extremely exciting step in the process and maybe one day I'll get there.

But for now, I am in the Sea of Rejections. An Ocean of No. A Maelstrom of Denial. You get the idea.

What I'm saying is that unless you are ridiculously lucky, you and your book will get a LOT of rejections before you get an acceptance. Most agents you query will politely respond with a copy/paste form letter that tells you no. I get it, they're busy and have to review stacks of submissions. But at this point in my career, I would love to know what, if anything, I did wrong. Did I even do anything wrong? A lot of times, stories get rejected because it's not 'a good fit' for the agent. I have no idea what that means but it doesn't sound like something I can fix on my end. In the precious non copy/paste responses I've gotten, most agents have had positive things to say about my writing, which feels more like a win than it should.

I will say that the first rejection is absolutely the hardest. At least, it was for me. I had gone in with a lot of reserved hope so it hit harder than expected to see that big ol' 'We wish you luck in your future endeavors.' They really love using that one.

So, what can you do about it? The answer is simple: You brush yourself off and you keep going.

Okay, so it's a little more complicated than that. For starters, you have to know yourself. What strategies work to get yourself past difficult times? For me, I usually just need a day. A day to mope, sleep, think, play video games, pout, and get myself in the right mindset to carry on. It's never longer than a day though because that's the limit I put on myself. Then, I need to get back on the horse, which usually means querying more potential agents.

But that's what works for me. Your method will be different. It should be different.

I am happy to say that the subsequent 'no's are FAR easier to handle than the first one. It becomes a strange little rhythm where you query, submit, get rejected, and continue the search.

The best part is, that even if you reach whatever limit of rejections you've placed on yourself (mine is around 100), there is still the option of self-publishing. There at least, the chances of people seeing your stories are much higher.

So, just know that you are going to be hearing the word, "no" quite a lot. And that's okay. Do not let it stifle your creativity.

As always, may your muse smile upon you and your words ring true!

-Chris