Today, I received my seventh rejection letter. I took a moment to reflect. Until now, I've been pretty upbeat about this whole process, waiting for that one agent who asks for the whole manuscript. I'm not sure why this one turned into such a downer.
It probably caught me at the wrong time. I'm wrapping up a 2-week on-call stint for my company. It's not easy taking those calls, especially after falling into the throes of sleep, as was the case last night. I have a hard time sleeping as it is, and I couldn't fall asleep until after 2 in the morning. Now I am a rubbery, exhausted blob.
The weather looks as miserable as I feel. The Midwest is in the midst of one of those once-in-a-generation polar vortexes. Our temps are expected to plunge to around -30 degrees Fahrenheit with a -60 wind chill. It could actually be colder in my backyard than the North Pole. It's so wicked cold that the handle on one of the doors in my house came apart when my daughter tried to open it. All of that preceded my seventh rejection letter.
Alert the committee! Hire a DJ! Chill the brewskis! The pity party is going to be epic!
Good ol' lucky number 7.
What so great about the number 7 anyway? I did a little research, and here is what I came up with.
- There are 7 continents on our planet.
- There are 7 deadly sins.
- There are (were) 7 Wonders of the World.
- There are 7 days of the week, the 7th being the Sabbath for Christians.
- In Judaism, there are 7 heavens.
- In Chinese culture, the 5 elements of life combined with Yin and Yang represent 7, a harmonic concept for Confucianism.
- There are 7 colors in a rainbow.
An author friend of mine told me his first book was accepted on his eighth query submission. He, too, received seven rejection letters up to that point. For the record, most authors typically receive way more rejection letters. The same author told me his second book was accepted after fifty query letters.
Whether we are conscious of it or not, we see the number 7 all the time. Maybe on some level I expected the seventh response to be the lucky one.
Like my author friend, maybe, just maybe, this rejection was my Lucky Number 7. Maybe it takes 8 to be Great.
