If you can accept losing, you can't win...Vince Lombardi

Several years ago when I first developed the idea for, The Wonk Decelerator, I originally thought of it as a short story. I sent it to a paying magazine and they promptly rejected it with a form letter. I looked at the story and decided I could make it better by adding an additional POV. I added in a couple of scenes and kept the story within the guidelines (just barely) of another paying magazine--the biggest sci/fi magazine out there. Again I received a rejection form letter. It made me angry. My story was better than anything I had seen in either of these magazines, yet they didn't want it! The problem was now my story had become too large for any other paying magazines that I could find. So I prayed about it. I never accepted these rejections as defeats.

After I prayed about it I came upon a publisher who was looking for good novellas--I felt I fit pretty well with this publisher's philosophy so I got back to work on the story. Well, Wonk wasn't quite big enough to be considered a novella, so I started seeing it as a bigger story. I added a prologue from the bad guy's point of view and then I worked on developing other characters, particularly Gravian Endrenicus and giving him a slightly larger role. As I made these changes I began to see novels springing up concerning these characters. By the time I had finished the rewrite to novella from a short story, I was planning 5 more books and called it the Guild Saga.

When I began submitting The Wonk Decelerator as a novella, I also submitted it as book 1 of 6 and I never deviated from that. Along the way two publishers who were interested went out of business and I got one rejection. I learned to use rejection to my benefit with a story I believed in. This has been the most valuable lesson I've ever learned as a writer--use rejection to grow. Use adversity to make you better and stronger. By the time I found the right niche for my story the story had grown leaps and bounds. It started out as a good story and today I believe it is much more than that. I found a home for it and now I will accept nothing less than best seller status. Well, that's going to take some doing, but I'll keep at it until that happens, just as I kept at getting a contract.

The key is never accept defeat. Never accept going backwards. Mixed with faith and prayer, you become invincible. A cool thought.