Be excited when your work gets accepted.
Allow yourself to be excited when someone says they like your novel. Let that feeling of pride cover you for a while. You deserve it.
Enjoy “nice” rejection letters. Some will say they liked it but it was not a good fit for them. Take that as a vote of confidence. Hand written or personalized rejections mean you are doing well… they took the time to respond rather than sending out a form letter. If they do this, they saw something of value in your work.
Rejection is inevitable. It can make you sad. When you get a little victory, remember to celebrate. I recommend chocolate. It always works for me!
Note: The above are Jon Gibb’s main speaking points, with my rambling opinions attached.
Jon Gibbs is the author of one of my son’s favorite books: FUR-FACE, which was nominated for a Crystal Kite Award.
Jon is an Englishman transplanted to New Jersey, USA, where he is an ‘author in residence’ at Lakehurst Elementary School. Jon is the founding member of The New Jersey Author’s Network and FindAWritingGroup.com.
Jon blogs at jongibbs.livejournal.com
Website: www.acatofninetales.com
Jennifer M Eaton 
I’m still waiting for a savor the moment type thing for me, but at least I’ll now know what do to!
You’ll be there some day.
Definitely celebrate all victories, big or small. You’ve certainly earned them! 🙂
Reblogged this on i d l e l o r e and commented:
Wonderful advice. Every achievement is worth celebrating. You may be your own biggest critic, but be your biggest cheerleader too.
I agree with the chocolate part for celebrating. Chocolate turns any occasion into a great one. Nice post.
MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm Chocolate.
Even better… Chocolate covered chocolate. 🙂
Someday…. 🙂 For now I try to enjoy the times my betas say they like something in the manuscript. Then I steel myself to address all the problems, confusing sections, character weaknesses, inconsistencies, and such that they’ve noted. 🙂
I love when my betas stop in the middle of my manuscript and “laugh” or say “Oh Yeah!” right where I want them to as an author. It gives me a great warm and fuzzy inside
I like this. We tend to focus only on the negative, or at least I do. When I approached several agents when I had finished my first novel, I was discouraged at all the rejections I got. But two actually took the time to point out a couple of things that needed work and a lot of the responses I got were personal. I didn’t see the positive and actually seriously considered giving up. 😦
Awe. I’m glad you didn’t. Any time you get something personalized means that they saw someting in it worthwhile. It means it’s not good enough yet, but it could be.
There’s nothing like holding your book for the first time. This is what I thought until I held the second. 🙂 Chocolate always works. Now, I will have to hold my Kindle. I think it will feel the same. Yes, enjoy and be proud.
My first experience will be holding my kindle, but I look forward to the day when I can hold paper as well.
I’ve never received a single rejection letter in all my years of writing! A significant contributor to this fact is that I’ve never sent out a query. 😉 Sounds like something I should look forward to. 🙂
Ha! Now you know what you have to look forward to.
Chocolate? Not champagne?
Always chocolate
I so agree with you, Jennifer! I can’t wait until you hold your book in your hand – and we all want to hear how you celebrate that awesome occasion! Thanks also for the link to Jon’s site; it’s great to have new ones to check out (I love the name of his book!) ~ Julie 🙂 xox
Thanks Julie !