Dealing with Rejection

I was in the middle of the ‘final edit’ of my latest manuscript for Mills & Boon/Harlequin, when I received a rejection letter for the previous submission.

I used to think rejection letters were "aaaargh!".
One minute I’d be having visions (read: delusions) of my name on a paperback cover, holding the publisher’s unopened envelope in my hopeful hands. The next minute, I’d be pouring my heart to my bewildered my dog about a ‘cruel, cruel world’, with my writer’s confidence lying in tatters after another ‘no, thanks’ had sunk in.
But after the five stages of grieving  (shock, anger, chocolate, acceptance and more chocolate), I’m finding that rejection letters are not that bad. In fact they are very instructive for a would-be author. Specially as the editors are getting more detailed in their constructive criticism.

Here are some examples :

Rejection letter - May 2006"Whilst we appreciate the care and attention that has gone into the preparation of your submission, regrettably we feel that your story and characters would not be suitable for  publication in any of our publishing programmes."

Rejection letter - May 2009"We have read this with interest, but regrettably have decided not to pursue this project further. Your material is competently written and you have obviously researched the genre. However, the feeling is that, while we enjoyed the lightness of tone in your voice, this isn’t currently being balanced by enough character depth in your protagonists. We are not seeing enough of (male) and (female)’s emotions and it is not clear what will keep them apart emotionally in this story. Furthermore, there are a lot of secondary characters who distract from our focus on the central romance."

Rejection letter - November 2010 (my favourite, so far)"We appreciate the care and attention that has gone into the preparation of your submission, regrettably we feel that your story and characters are not sufficiently developed for publication in any of our publishing programmes.
Here our top tips to bear in mind for your next submission (they’re expecting more, lovely!)
1.  Ensure that your story and conflict are character-driven
2.  Focus on the internal emotional conflict of your characters
3.  Use secondary characters to add richness and depth to your central romance but don’t let them take over!
4.  Target your work to a particular series - means you need to read current books in the series you are aiming for and understand what the series delivers to the reader.
…
Find more writing tips at www.eharlequin.com and www.millsandboon.co.uk"