Before I got published, I took a trip to NYC for a literary agent conference. My goal was to get signed and I sat in front of about seven agents, one at a time, and pitched my novel in five minute increments.

Five of the agents said they like what they heard and to send my full manuscript. I went back to Toronto feeling hopeful. I figured only one had to say yes, and I liked my odds at getting one out of five to commit.

When I sent my manuscript, all of them said no.

But I got a gift. The final agent who rejected my manuscript gave me feedback. For whatever reason, this agent wrote an essay length email describing all the things I was doing wrong in my writing. It was hard to read.

But I took that harsh critique and decided I needed to get better at the craft, so I enrolled myself into an 8-month novel writing course. That course paired me one-on-one with a published author and we workshopped my novel. And when I say workshopped, I essentially rewrote it.

That course helped me understand writing in ways I never had before. When I finally pitched the manuscript, the first agent I shared it with read the first three chapters the same day. He asked for the rest of the book and read the full manuscript the next day. I was signed that same week.

I tell this story for several reasons: first, that agent was an angel. If you know this industry, agents rarely ever give feedback. They just don’t have time. So whatever this agent saw in my manuscript, it prompted her to go above and beyond. That was just the universe being on my side. I had no control over that.

But what I did have control over was how I reacted. I took the criticism and did something about it. I didn’t sulk (okay, I did at first, but I got over it). I took on the challenge and got better.

And here’s the final lesson: the thing that got me published was improving my skill as a writer. Elevating my understanding for craft allowed me to communicate the ideas in my mind more intentionally and more creatively than I could before.

Writing a novel isn’t easy. It is far more technical than you may realize. It’s the reason I continue to maintain a learning mindset to this very day (just finished a course on interiority).

This industry is full of surprises and you never know when or how your break will come. But when it does, you better be prepared.