I’ve joined a prestigious group of authors. I’ve been rejected.

I got my first rejection letter for my first novel.

It’s far from my first rejection letter. I’ve been turned down for magazine and newspaper articles plenty of times. I wrote a children’s book back in the 1990s and got that rejection letter on paper (No email back then.) Worse still, the letter arrived on my birthday.

This one came in the form of an email in the middle of the night. I was still up, feverishly trying to reach my daily word goal for my next novel. So when it came, I was so caught up in the drama of my story, it didn’t hurt too much.

In fairness to the publisher, I must note that she sent a very kind letter advising me not to be discouraged. “After all, it just takes one ‘yes’ and with so many different opinions out there, you could easily find the right match,” she wrote.

When I told members of my longtime writing group moments after I got the email, one offered some sage advice: “You might want to consider sending out another copy, before you hear back from the second one, to keep more than one option out there until you find the right group to appreciate your talent.” (I have the most supportive writing friends.)

So I picked myself up, dusted off the book so easily tossed aside, and sent off a new query to another publisher. Maybe they’ll say yes.