Every single writer who reads my journals knows a fundamental truth: rejection letters are part of the business. Doesn’t mean they’re not a punch in the gut every time you get one. The trick is how to deal with them in a constructive way.
I got one yesterday, and it struck me particularly badly since a couple of folks I know have had the recent awesome fortune of landing agents. The last thing I wanted to do though was whinge to the Internet about yet another rejection letter. Instead, I opted to get out of the house for a while. And although I had the phone with me, I tried to make a point of minimally checking the Internet, too, to eliminate the temptation to whinge. I thought it’d be way more constructive if I got out and did some exercise and maybe spent some time checking various used bookstores for a couple of books I want.
This wound up taking me all the way into downtown Seattle, then back up through the U-district and Ravenna, and finally into Lake City, Kenmore, and home. I walked about four miles all told and visited a total of eight bookstores, and I rode four different busses through the course of the afternoon. And even though I didn’t find the books I was looking for, I did come home with two others: Bloodshot, the new one by 
cmpriest
By the time I got home I felt less depressed and more at peace. Today, I have sent out more query letters and have felt more like getting back to work. One of today’s queries is in fact going out by snailmail, which is unusual for me since I tend to focus on the people who take email queries–but I’m needing to go farther afield now to find the people who represent more flavors of fantasy than “urban”.
How do you deal with rejection letters, my fellow writers?
