Another R from a publisher yesterday. I was almost at the end of my lunch break when I checked my email on my phone & saw an email from my agent. I knew it was a rejection and just had to wait for it to download... yep. I was coming off a night of no sleep, so I had a quick ugly cry in my car on the way back to work.
Doing much better this morning. I vented to some friends and had a revelation all over again about the "it just takes one yes" cliche. It really is true. My novel is written a little outside the genre convention, which is what editors are having problems with. One of my friends said "why didn't your agent TELL you it was going to be a problem to sell like that?", to which I responded "That's what she LIKES about it!" I remembered all the querying I did with this book, all the contests, and all the rejection I went through, from people who didn't like that it didn't fit neatly inside a box. And I remembered how exciting it was to finally talk to an agent who loved it for that very reason. Somewhere, hopefully, there's going to be an editor who is going to be the same, who is going to like it because it's a little different. We just have to find that editor, and get that one yes.
So while I'm still frustrated, and OMG the waaaaaaaait suuuuuucks, I'm feeling a little less "noooo they hate my book I suck what's the point" and a little more "we just need to find the person who believes in this book." Which is a better place to be, I think.