Getting things in proportion

One of the pleasures of writing a blog is that there is no-one to say: “Thanks, but no.”

I have an idea for a brilliant, untried new food book. I sent an outline to a publisher and after the expected six week silence got a response:

“Sorry, it’s not for me and in all honesty in the present trading climate, not an easy sell to any publisher.”

I was once given a terrific book called The Resilient Writer. It taught me what is called ‘the boomerang reaction’, i.e. if a book proposal comes back, get it out again straight away to someone else.

It also featured chapters on many well known writers who had all been rejected at some time in their careers. It’s well known that J.K. Rowling had 14 rejections for the first Harry Potter book; Carrie by Stephen King had over 30 and Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell had 38. John Grisham clocked up 45 rejections for A Time to Kill.

But the most important thing to know in dealing with rejection is always to be planning something else. So while my great food book may not be taking off at the moment, I’m still happily playing with food in The Armchair Kitchen.

(By the way, the photo is of a large sculpture by an Italian, Giancarlo Neri. He used to be a soccer player but something made him change track and turn to art. The giant table is made from 6 tons of steel and 1000 lbs of wood.)