Thursday 10 March 2011

If At First You Don't Succeed...

I had an call from a friend. She was drinking champagne with her publisher, the contract in front of her, waiting for her signature. In the back ground her agent was smiling as she surveyed the scene.

What's special about this scenario is that a month ago all that was in place was a manuscript. A manuscript that had been turned down several times, what's more. And one of the rejection letters from an agent had said that she thought it was unpublishable. To make it even more special, the author was on my MA course with me. For the past ten years she's hung on to her writing. Two books have been written and done the rounds but to no avail. This one, the third, has hit gold. I couldn't be more pleased for her.

What makes Person A persist when Person B gives up? I wish I knew - I'd bottle it and make my fortune! What I do know is that if you give up you have no chance of success. As the ad goes, you've got to be in it to win it.

NEW!!! I've finally got round to organising some course dates....
How to WRITE a Novel: London 3rd May/Birmingham 7th May/
Oxford 8th May/Exeter 21st May/Bath 12th June
How to SELL a Novel: London 24th May/Exeter 4th June/

6 comments:

Rebecca Bradley said...

It's so true that you have to keep trying and there are lots of great examples of this out there.

Stephen King was rejected multiple times but never gave up and J.K Rowling was rejected 12 times and look at her now!

I will definitely be persevering when I've finished my manuscript. I may need to cry a bit as the rejections come in, but I will definitely keep trying.

Anonymous said...

That's a lovely story with a very happy ending for your friend. She must be thrilled.

And as Rebecca said, Stephen King and JK Rowling are great examples of perseverance.

I had a rejection this week but I shall keep going.

Hope you had a good time at the RNA awards.

ATB

Lizzie

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

Congratulations to your friend, I'm glad her perserverance paid off.

Kath McGurl said...

Well done to your friend - she's proved she's got what it takes!

Sarah Duncan said...

It's great news for her, and should encourage everybody as she had so many rejections along the way and came close to giving up on several occasions.

Not that that makes rejection any easier to take, I know.

Thanks Lizzie, I had a great time at the awards because I just knew I wasn't going to win so sat back and enjoyed myself.

Sheila Norton said...

What a great story, Sarah. I'm so thrilled for your friend. It gives hope to us all, to hear about these type of things happening!