Rejected - I'm Running With The Big Dogs Again

A reputable publisher turned me down the other day.
He was nice about it. It was a kindly worded rejection about my manuscript not fitting into the company’s current need.
This was followed by a bit of form letter encouragement inviting me to try with a different project later on, and a hearty wish for my good luck in placing the current manuscript.
We writers need a thick skin and a proper-sized ego that lets us to believe that people will spend their hard-earned money on what we create. Rejection thickens the hide, steels the backbone, kicks us in the head to learn more, and keeps the ego in check.
Every writer gets rejected. It’s how we learn.
Certainly some authors do get accepted right away. Some have been picked up at the first place to which they submitted.
Eeek. That’s not good, because it likely means they submitted to a vanity press or author mill. Exceptions exist, of course, but not many. Vanity press authors are printed, not published, and it’s not what I want.
Good writers get rejected. And rejected. And rejected again until one magic day when their talent, perseverance and skill pays off. They go from obscurity to having a book face out on the end caps at a book store.
So rejection is good. In my world I’m running with the big dogs when I get turned down. It’s something worth celebrating.
Ah, rejection. It makes me feel like I belong.