There were about ten years of trying, failing, trying again, suffering rejection, etc. My first published book, 'Story of a Girl', was the fourth book I wrote.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I have been rejected 120 times, probably because I didn't write the right book.
My first novel was rejected by some of the most eminent publishers in the world. Starting again was a real wrench.
I finished my first novel - it was around 300 pages long - when I was 16. Wrote one more before I got out of high school, then wrote the first Lincoln Perry novel when I was 19. It didn't sell, but I liked the character and I knew the world so I tried what was, in my mind, a sequel. Wrote that when I was 20, and that one made it.
My first four books were not published because nobody wanted them. They were adult books, not kids' books.
I wrote my first book when I was in my late thirties.
In course of time my first novel appeared. It was a love story.
After being rejected for years, I found a publisher for 'Keeper,' and it won prizes, and then I had to write a second and a third book because I kept taking the money and spending it.
My first book was rejected nine times. It turned out to be a best seller, Battle Cry? in 1953.
I was twenty-seven when I began to write seriously, and after two years of rejections, my first book, 'The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo,' was accepted for publication.
I've had a lot of books rejected in my time. My first novel, which didn't get published, was, with hindsight, crashingly dull.