Rejection. Not a pretty word and even harder to take when you get one from an agent or publisher. I have attended many events, agent's gala, conferences and parties where you might be able to give one of them a 5 minute pitch. But what you don't know is that most of them already have it in their head to turn you down. Once I approached an agent, I knew almost immediately just from the way he looked at me that he wasn't exactly interested in what I had to say. Still I figured, why not? I will give it a shot and before I finished my second sentence, he said to me, "Why are you writing about a serial killer? Who would want to read that? He's dead in the water." I stood up and said, "What do you mean? " He just looked at me coldly and said, "Don't waste your time on that." I just turned around and left. That man was terribly rude and he was right, it was a waste of time, especially for me talking to him. I still strongly believe that the story I wrote is a good one and will appeal to many people but after seeing him, I got really discouraged but maybe it's time to look at it again. Besides, what does he know?