In Good Company

What do Harrison Ford, The Beatles, and Michael Jordan all have in common?

They too, despite being wildly successful, have felt the heart wrenching pains of rejectionitis.  Harrison Ford, who played a whip toting adventurist, was told by a VP of Columbia Pictures that he would never make it as an actor!  The Beatles were rejected by a recording company because they "didn't like their sound and guitar music is on the way out." Michael Jordan was cut from his High School Basketball team and went home and cried.

But think about it; what would our world look like had they decided to just  abandon their dreams?  We would be left adventure-less without Indiana Jones.  We would have no idea how songs could soothe our souls without songs like "Let It Be" and "Yesterday". And we would never know how captivating it is to watch a grown man fly through the air and slam dunk a basketball with his tongue hanging out!

Even the literary world has its' fair share of rejectionitis sufferer's.  James Patterson, Madeline L'Engle, Meg Cabot, C.S. Lewis, Stephen King, and yes, even Dr. Suess have all been rejected at one time or another.  But here's the kicker, the side-note, the fail-safe antidote - they persevered.  They refused to give up.  They continued even when the literary statistics were stacked against them.

Do you feel like you're in good company yet?  Well then, grab a snuggie, a cup of hot cocoa, and curl up with these fellow rejectionitis patients.

John Grisham was rejected by 12 publishers and 16 agents before going on to sell well over 250 million books.

William Golding's Lord of the Flies was rejected 20 times!

Judy Blume received nothing but rejections for 2 years!  See her story at Judy Blume Rejection.

Even Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell was rejected 38 times!

We can look at these examples and say, "Yah, but that's John Frickin' Grisham, and Judy Blume for crying out loud!" but really, who's to say that in five years from now new, struggling authors won't look to us and say, "Wow!  Did you read that story about (insert your name here), she/he never gave up and now look they are a NY Times Best Selling Author!"

Come on!  The Newbery, Caldecott, and Hugo Awards are all out there waiting to be won - you just have to keep writing!