Over in the comments trail of one of Miss Snark's posts, author Jenna Black writes this gem:

It would be a great pity to give it all up after only one book, no matter how many rejections that book garners. My “first” novel, which is coming out in September from Tor, was actually the 18th novel I'd completed. After going through all that toil and rejection, I now have four books under contract. A writing career is a marathon (or maybe even one of those iron-man races), not a sprint.

I think this segues nicely from yesterday's discussion. 🙂 Patience, perseverance, persistence. Yep, it works if you just stick with it. Learn and grow and keep writing.