I love this quote. It applies to all aspects of life. I am an aspiring author, and remind myself often that the key to success is to not give up.

Since my adventure began over five years ago, I have read numerous stories from well known authors about their journey to becoming published. I put so much time and effort into my craft, I couldn’t help but feel discouraged and wonder what I was doing wrong. It encouraged me to know that I was not alone but in great company.

The one common theme in all of their stories was perseverance. The agent that worked with me on my book, always ended her critiques with don’t give up.

If you have a high quality, marketable piece of work, persevere, and you will eventually find an agent and get published.

Kathryn Stockett wrote The Help over a five year period of time, then had three and a half years worth of rejections. 60 in all. It was agent 61 who took her on. The book spent 100 weeks on the best seller list. Not sure if you are familiar with her novel, but you probably have heard of the movie based on this book. Now I would call that perseverance.

Other notable Authors who suffered rejection but persevered:

• Richard Adam’s Watership Down- 17 rejections
• Frank Herbert’s   Dune –   20+ rejections
• JK Rowlings’  Harry Potter –  12+ rejections
• Nicholas Sparks’  The Notebook- 24 rejections.

I hope you are getting the picture. You can’t give up on your dreams. Revise, edit, do what you have to do to make your story great, but don’t give up.

Hope this offered a little encouragement.  I know how disheartening it can be to send your baby out and have it rejected. Don’t take it personal and don’t quit.

-Jan R