Welcome back to another installment of Running Up That Hill, the only column in the WWWorld¹ named after a Kate Bush song that the columnist doesn't even like!

Last week, I told the story of my first-ever comic submission, which was a pitch to a romance anthology. Like many first romance comic submissions, it wasn't meant to be. And it wasn't one of those soft, “it's not you, it's me” kind of endings, either. For whatever reason, my pitch was just not what the publisher was looking for. In other words,

I was

REJECTED

for the first time in my new life as an aspiring comic book writer. And it felt pretty yucky, to tell you the truth.

Dictionary.com gives eight definitions for “reject.” The way I felt after having my submission rejected was a tie between definition #4 (“to discard as useless or unsatisfactory”) and #5 (“to cast out or eject; vomit”).

But luckily, I already had a plan B in place. If the romance book wouldn't have me, surely I had a good shot at the Postcards anthology Jason Rodriguez was putting together. There was an open call for submissions for one of the 16 stories. The hook for Postcards (which is a doozy!) is that all the stories are inspired by actual postcards sent in the early 1900s. So on the call for submissions page, there was this postcard:

The thing that struck me about this postcard was that the message written on the back had nothing at all to do with the “Birthday Greetings” sentiment expressed on the front. That just seemed downright peculiar. So, naturally, that's where my mind started wandering. The pitch requirements were both simple and strict: 40 words that captured the essence of the story you wanted to tell based on that postcard. So here's what I submitted:

He finally sent it – “Happy Birthday” – their signal, long-arranged.

It’s too late. She's married now.

She serves her husband dinner, thinking of the card.

Thinking of him. Longing for him.

Five years ago, it was a dream. Today, it's real.

With those 40 words, I cleared the first hurdle and was invited to submit a one-page pitch. The winner would be chosen from among those single-page pitches, so I had only one final hurdle standing between me and my first-ever comic book publication! And much like my experience with the romance submission, I got some encouraging positive feedback on the Postcards front (albeit in this case anonymously).

Surely this would be my golden opportunity, my crowning achievement, my moment in the sun. Heck, the phrase “creative genius” had been bandied about in reference to an idea of my creation – and not just by my beautiful and wonderfully supportive wife!

So, after all this buildup, after all my high hopes and expectations of success, what did I hear about my Postcards submission on the same day (Saturday, June 3^rd, 2006, if you must know) I got the rejection email on the romance thing, a meager handful of hours later?

I was

REJECTED

for the second time in my new life as an aspiring comic book writer. And much like the first rejection, it felt pretty yucky, to tell you the truth.

I spent the rest of the weekend feeling sorry for myself and... feeling sorry for myself some more.

And then the strangest thing happened.

I quit feeling sorry for myself, and instead, started feeling proud. Proud of myself for getting this far: actually diving into the deep end and submitting things to publishers. Because it affirmed something for me, going through the process – both the creative process and the emotional vulnerability – of sending a submission in so that someone I don't even know can say “Yay” or “Nay” to it.

It affirmed for me that this is what I want to do. I want to write comic books.

And if it takes rejection upon rejection to get there, then that's just how it has to be and I'll deal with it. Because nothing's going to stop me from being a comic book writer.

So having weathered the storm of my first two rejections coming on the same day, I started looking for the next opportunity for rejection. And it wasn't long before I found it:

Yes, it was another open call for submissions, this time for a new anthology titled Sequential Suicide. Having come what felt like so close to success with the romance and postcards submissions, I was Determined x 10² to give this new submission opportunity my very best shot.

So I wrote what I thought was a good story, then I wrote what I thought was an even better story, and then I hired Kristen Simon to edit the “better” story for me. Kristen is the editor for Shadowline Productions, Jim Valentino's imprint at Image Comics. She also freelances and edits numerous independent titles.

Kristen Simon, aka Editor Girl

So, I emailed the script to Kristen, after explaining to her that I thought this script was probably brilliant, although there was a 15% chance it actually sucked, and if the latter were true, I had written another script I could send her in its place.

Here's what she sent me back:

Ok, I read through this and I see some problems. First of all, reading through what you are supposed to be submitting, it seems like you are pushing it. They call for stories aimed at a general audience, including kids. But this 8 page story not only has rampant drug use, but swearing and nudity as well....

Further, when I read this story, you gave me NO reason to care about these characters. Why do I care that he's being shipped off, and why do I care that this woman cheated on him? ...

Not to mention that every page except one has 5 panels on it, which makes for a very boring layout visually. You can use 8 pages to tell a MUCH better story, I think.

Maybe you should send me the other one!

Given that she's an editor, I was a little surprised that she didn't just cut to the chase and tell me that

This story sucks, and therefore, you are

REJECTED

Well, to make a long column a little bit longer, I sent her the other story, she liked it and provided some valuable editorial guidance, and I hired a wonderful artist by the name of Juan Romera to illustrate it. Here's the first page (click the image for a full-size readable version):

I lettered it (many thanks to Jason Arthur for his expert tutelage) and sent it in. As with my two previous submissions, from the moment I sent it in, I felt really good about my chances. But unlike my two previous submissions, this time, rather than more rejection, I finally found

SUCCESS!

I'm pleased as punch for my story “Fall of the Triumvirate” to have been one of seven selected for publication in the 2007 edition of Sequential Suicide.

Now, what does all this have to do with you, Mr. and/or Ms. Aspiring Comic Book Writer? There are actually a handful of important lessons to be gleaned from my experience in getting to this point (i.e., finally bridging the deep, dark chasm of “unpublished”). And I'll be sharing those in upcoming columns.

But for now, the one thing I want to leave you with, because I think it's important, is simply this:

Don't give up.

If you want to write, write. Keep after it. Devote your “free” time and as much of your non-free time to your writing as possible. Treat it like a second job.

Don't let rejection get you down.

Use it to motivate yourself. Every submission that you create and submit, even if it gets rejected, is still a work of comic book art that you created. Maybe it's not what that particular publisher was looking for. Or maybe it's just really bad.

But even if it is really bad, that's okay. The more you create, the better you'll get -- if you're serious about working on and improving your craft. And since that's really the whole point of Scryptic Studios in the first place, I think it's fairly safe to assume that you are.

So, to sum up:

• Rejection = good.
• Success = better.
• Don't give up = words to live by + another Kate Bush song, for those keeping count!

Footnotes & Bibliography

¹ What some people refer to as, “The Internet.”