After avoiding it all summer, I finally started submitting my novel to small presses again. The serial rejection (from 50 agents and 10 small publishers) left me so discouraged I was ready to junk the manuscript. Then I reminded myself that many famous and successful books met with a similar reception. One of my MFA profs averaged a 99% rejection rate at the start of her career. Another novelist I know didn’t find an agent until his fifth (I’m only on my fourth). So perhaps I’ll be the next John Grisham or Agatha Christie.