Let's hear it for the testy and dejected!

Or, OK, truth be told, its the REjected and not DEjected I am rooting for today.

See, you work hard, you write a book. You send it to publishers for months or years asking them to like it. You get so many demoralizing rejection letters, while your very-patient friends reassure you that even J.K. Rowling got rejected dozens of times.

Finally one amazing, wonderful publisher does like your book, and even publishes it! And the elation fills you with a fever pitch to keep writing, and keep going, and you write another book and then...

... start another round of rejection letters. I got my latest this yesterday, on a day I was already home sick with a cold.

And I am a "professional" writer. I KNOW form letters saying "thank you for sharing... not for us" are not a reflection of my talent or lackthereof. Furthermore, I work in marketing! I 100% know that there is a vast difference between "good" and "marketable" in the type of fiction I write.

But it still makes me sad.

So, I think we should all do something nice for the writers out there, just in case anyone is having a day like me and is feeling a little dejected.

What's that you say? A contest?

Yes! Of my normal ilk! Go to Amazon, find a book you like that was self-published, or written by a first time writer, or published by a small press, and leave a review about how much you liked it. You will make some author's day, for sure....

... and then come back here, leave a link to the book, and you're in the contest. One winner will get a $20 Amazon giftcard. I'll announce a winner by 1/31.

If you would like some independant or small press publications to consider, think about maybe:

• Twisted Velvet Chains by Jessica Bell, amazing poetry by an up and coming star. Its available for Kindle for only .99, or paperback as well.
• The War Master's Daughter by Elly Zupko, strong and engrossing historical fiction. On Kindle for only $2.99, or available on Paperback as well.
• String Bridge by Jessica Bell, which also just rocked my world
• of (of course) Max and Menna or Listening In, bother available on Kindle for $3.99 and $1.99 respectively. Max and Menna is also in paperback and hardcover, and Listening In will be available in paperback soon.

Come on, make someone's day... and maybe win a prize as well :)