Guh buh wha SERIOUSLY?!

[Seshat]

No problem with Harlequin, just not really sure that my writing is good enough to be published. I don't particularly want to see a rejection letter, if you get what I mean.

If you want to become a professional writer, you need to learn to get over that. Pro writers have enough rejection letters to paper their walls with.

We also get enough criticism from our editors to pave our floors and line our ceilings with. And the criticism from the public can insulate the house.

What does it mean?
It means you're good enough that they cared enough to write it.

Seriously. If someone actually cares enough to criticise you, they think you're worth it.

That's so important I'll say it again. If someone actually cares enough to criticise you, they think you're worth it.

If you get a rejection letter that's anything more than 'Sorry, we can't take your piece', read it, study it, figure out what you can do differently, and try again. Include a copy of the previous rejection letter in the cover documents.

If they bothered to say what was wrong, they want a resubmittal.

If it's 'we can't take Victorian era romances, we're full', send them a Civil War era romance. If it's 'your story doesn't fit our formula', study formula and figure out their formula and write to it.

And as Mooncat said, get their submission guidelines.

Your local librarian should be able to point you to a book that explains submitting to publishing houses, and the process your novel goes through before publication.

[Wendygurl]

Just Do It! No is just a good reason to work on it more. Sooner or later after enough refining you just may get a yes.

[Barefootgirl]

These are Harlequin's submission guidelines;

http://www.eharlequin.com/articlepag...=538&chapter=0

Go for it. If they turn you down, they turn you down. J K Rowling was rejected a dozen times, Lord of the Flies was turned down 20 times before Golding found a publisher.

I'm in the process of writing to agents at the moment, which is even more soul-destroying than writing to publishers. We can compare rejection letters!

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Margaret Mitchell got rejection slips. A lot of them. She's not alone and is in distinguished company.

I agree that if you are afraid of seeing just one of them, don't send it in.

Of course, you will end your days wondering what might have been, but at least you won't have any rejection slips to your record.

You are not a writer until you have a big box of them. Until you can paper a room with them. If you cannot bear the thought of getting even one, don't write. You won't be able to handle it.

And if you feel like getting a rejection slip will put you off writing, then you are not writing for the right reason.