UPDATE: The winner is…Debra Guyette!
*~*~*

On January 21, 2017, Delilah Devlin sent me a rejection letter. I hadn’t had many emails like that in my fledgling writing career. Probably because I hadn’t sent many projects out on submission. If you don’t put yourself out there, then you can’t be rejected. That’s a great theory, but it doesn’t get a newbie writer published. Somehow, in my mind, Delilah gave me brilliant feedback on how to make my short story better. For posterity’s sake, I pulled it up to reread just now. Nope. It’s a standard if kindly written, rejection letter.

It spurred something inside me, though. I took that short story, worked with an editor, and made it better. Eventually, I found a publisher. The Wild Rose Press took a chance on me and published For the Love of Max. The story they published was substantially changed—because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Today, I didn’t reread the old story I submitted because I knew I’d cringe. I meandered way too long before getting to the core of the story. The love scene wasn’t nearly sensual enough. The point of view wasn’t deep enough. Hell, I’d never heard of Deep POV.

I’ve worked with that freelance editor for almost ten years now. She poked, prodded, cajoled, and finally shoved her way into my head. I know what she expects from me. The same thing my readers do—a well-crafted, heartfelt, strong story with great characters. I am more confident now I can deliver that. Do I waver? Type the end and think…is this brilliant or garbage? Yep, all the time. But I keep going. I keep weaving stories, fabricating worlds, and creating characters I know my readers are going to love. Writing isn’t just a hobby—it’s a vocation. I love my day job. One of the reasons I work so hard in it is so I can afford to hire editors, cover designers, and marketing people so that I can keep publishing stories.

Delilah was absolutely right to reject that story. When I spotted that she had another anthology coming out this year, I sat down and wrote “Thought You Were the One.” I actually wrote another story under a different pen name because I wasn’t certain which she might want. I was okay with another two rejections because I know the quality and quantity of stories Delilah gets for her anthologies every year. I sent the stories off and tried really hard not to dwell on the fact my darlings were out on submission.

When Delilah emailed me to let me know I’d made the cut, I yelled so loud that I woke the dogs up. Then I realized she hadn’t told me which story. Ironically, I thought she’d pick the other one. But she didn’t, and I’m so glad to bring representation to this wonderful anthology. I plan to submit more stories in the future. Undoubtedly, there will be more rejections. It’s not personal—sometimes, the story doesn’t fit, sometimes there are too many similar ones, and—gasp—sometimes you just didn’t write a good story. Happens to the best of us. I have more than forty publishing credits, and my editor lobbed one back at me last year and said, “Oh hell, no.”

Wait—I had two editors each lob one back. Huh. So yeah, even when you think you’ve got it all figured out, you discover you’ve written a dud. But I dusted myself back off, have plans to edit and fix those stories, and will keep creating more.

Thank you, Delilah. Both for saying yes and for giving me the space here today to share my story.

I would love to give away a $5 Amazon Gift Card to a commenter. Have you ever faced rejection and found a way around it? Over it? Under it? Moved on? Feel free to share a few words of encouragement with a writer who might be struggling. Random will select the winning commenter.

 Secret Identities: A Bad Boys Anthology, #8

 

Inside Secret Identities: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology, you’ll find stories by some of the hottest romance writers out there for readers who crave mysterious, enigmatic men and women who may not be who they claim to be. Perhaps they’re the new next-door neighbor with a secret mission, an alien from a far-away galaxy looking for his fated mate, or a spy trying to catch a foreign agent. Whatever their secrets, intrigue and passion follow…

Secret Garden by A.J. Harris – Hired by werewolf matriarchs to track down a bad-boy photographer, a private investigator discovers a deep connection with her past—and a secret garden of unspoken, sensual pleasures

What That Alien D Do by Ava Cuvay – A cosplayer at a popular Sc-Fi convention stalks her favorite MyFans content creator only to discover his alien “prosthetic enhancements” are real

Masquerade by Brent Archer – After accepting an invitation to a masquerade, a coffeeshop owner finds himself on the run from a mafia hitman with a handsome harlequin

Claimed by her Naga Bodyguard by Cameron Allie – Escaping her dorm for a night of fun with friends takes a turn for a witch-in-training when demons attack, and a mysterious creature comes to her rescue

Mayday by Cindy Tanner – A miscommunication isn’t the end of the world—unless it is the end of the world—and your “ride or die” might just be undead

Matsuri by D.S. Dehel – An American woman searching in Japan for the man haunting her dreams is chased by a wily kitsune into a magical place where she meets a samurai warrior

Most Wanted by Darah Lace – A bounty on the line, a hunter who bedded then betrayed her, and a strip club—she’ll bare it all to get her man

Heartthrob by Delilah Devlin – Determined to recast his image from heartthrob to action hero, an actor hires on incognito with an Oklahoma ranch whose owner is trying to stay out of foreclosure

Sex, Spies, and Subterfuge by Elle James – Scottish UK SAS Agent on an undercover weekend assignment tangles with a beautiful Russian seductress and potential assassin.

Thought You Were the One by Gabbi Grey – He’s in for a surprise twist when he seeks a second chance to win the attention of his handsome, unrequited, high school crush

Baby, Take My Hand by M. Jayne – After surviving a bullet to the brain, a detective hunting a serial killer is drawn to a mysterious man

Her Heavenly Phantom by Michal Scott – Forced into a marriage of convenience neither wants, a mild-mannered banker with an intriguing secret discovers his reluctant bride has a secret, too

Perfect Stranger by N. J. Walters – An undercover DEA agent must keep his identity secret from the woman he’s falling for, a woman he’s also investigating

In the Dark by Reina Torres – During a blackout, an undercover NSA agent in Hawaii falls hard and fast for the military guy living across the hall with secrets of his own

Links:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Identities-Behaving-Badly-Anthology-ebook/dp/B0D5SQ4P2P
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secret-identities-delilah-devlin/1145674531
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/secret-identities/id6503634546
KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/secret-identities-8
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214187714-secret-identities

About Gabbi Grey

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.