Rejection and Laziness

While I expected it to happen, I sent a query letter and got a rejection. The rejection was a boilerplate response saying how subjective everything is and whatnot. I had gotten plenty of rejections before, so I am pretty used to it and will have to because it will most likely happen again and again. I have gotten rejections with feedback from the literary, with a few of them with mostly positive feedback, and much with negative feedback.

There is admittedly a part of me that does not want to send these query letters. Part of it is just sloth, but the other is deeper than that. Being a professional published author who can make money from my books is the ultimate goal, and I know that there are less of these types than there are professional athletes. I want to believe that if I get published and find some success, maybe after a few books get published, that this will be what I am doing for the rest of my life. In that sense, sending these query letters is the work that I must do to reach this ultimate goal, but that is also getting out of my comfort zone as well. Right now, I have a good job, my own home and am doing well. In essence, I am knowingly giving that up for an unknown future – one that could be great, or one that could result in failure.

Something about this is worth it though. Putting ideas onto paper and allowing others to read it is a risky endeavor. In one sense, it allows for criticism, and this can be quite harsh at times. In another sense, it is introducing new worlds, characters and ideas to audiences that will hopefully enjoy the work. It is giving a form of escapism to those that may need it.