Jennifer Donnelly Quotes

Authors by the hundreds can tell you stories by the thousands of those rejection slips before they found a publisher who was willing to 'gamble' on an unknown.

I heard you had to get 200 rejections before you got published.

After 20 years, a million written words, and nine rejected novels, I finally landed a book contract.

The usual way - through a long series of rejections, revising my manuscripts, and kept trying again and again. Finally I was fortunate enough to find a good agent.

Rejection is part of the process, so you can't let it crush you. My first three novels never made it into publication, but my fourth, 'Sheltering Rain,' was translated into 11 languages.

After seven years of writing - and working many jobs to support my family - I finally got published.

I have been rejected 120 times, probably because I didn't write the right book.

The only time I was ever approached to write a book was when I was most famous.

Writing is basically a job for people who like punching themselves in the face, I’m pretty sure.

Friends open the door for me to write. Then I get paid attention to and it allows me to write other books. The Great Spring and the thirtieth anniversary of Bones just came out and while I'm happy and excited about that, I've already finished a new book. That's what practice does. You don't get caught.

There are writers who go their whole lives and never hit that No. 1 spot.

Being published is a bit like being entered into a race you don't even want to run, but, once running, can't help but not want to lose.

The great American novel has not only already been written, it has already been rejected.

I became a connoisseur of that nasty thud a manuscript makes when it comes through the letter box.

My first novel was rejected by some of the most eminent publishers in the world. Starting again was a real wrench.

Almost anyone can be an author; the business is to collect money and fame from this state of being.

Getting your work published is a major struggle.

I feel like, sometimes, when things are just handed to people, in a way, right away, you don't get a sense of what the rejection and the struggle is like that comes along with life.

I quit law in 1988 to start writing, and it took me 17 years from that point to get a book contract. I guess you can say I was on the slow train.

You may be able to write a novel, you may not. You will never know until you have worked very hard indeed and written at least part of it. You will never really know until you have written the whole of it and submitted it for publication.

There's a word for a writer who never gives up: published.

I've had my ups. I've had my downs, but I've been able to push through every obstacle that's been thrown my way.

As for advice for aspiring authors, the best I can give is to be brave. It sounds like a simple enough thing, but it's not. Rejection is such an integral part of this journey, and it never goes away.

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.

I've been wanting to sing for a long time. I've been singing all my life, and I've tried different record companies, but it seemed like - it was such a struggle and so hard to get out there. So, I said, 'I'm gonna go on American Idol and see how far it takes me.'