Success stories often leave out the struggle, but for author Becky Dean, the struggle is the story. Speaking from her own experiences as a writer, she enthralled an audience of students by sharing how her years of rejection and self-doubt eventually led to the publishing of multiple novels. 

The library hosted a book signing and two consecutive presentations during lunches on Tuesday, Feb. 27. Guest speaker Ms. Dean is the author of Young Adult (YA) romance and science-fiction novels, most notably Love & Other Great Expectations and Hearts Overboard.

Ms. Dean’s presentation centered on the decades it took to become a published author. Prior to writing her first draft, Ms. Dean spent an entire year reading books about writing and learning useful strategies about setting, characters, and theme. When she began putting pen to paper, she completed four science-fiction and fantasy novels. She chose to not publish these novels, but they taught her valuable lessons about storytelling

“For my fifth book, I thought, ‘I’m going to try something different,’” Ms. Dean said. “I like road-trip romance [books] that have a quest feel of characters on a journey somewhere. The fifth book I wrote was what would become Love and Other Great Expectations.”

Ms. Dean described the difficult process of submitting her work to agents and publishers in hopes of bringing her writing to a broader audience. She spent years sending publishers manuscript samples and waiting for a response, only to receive either a rejection or no response at all. 

“[I eventually found an agent] for my first science-fiction book, who also gave my romance book a chance,” Ms. Dean said. “That was multiple years of looking, and I think I stopped counting somewhere around 350 rejections.”

Even after signing with her agent, Ms. Dean faced years of uncertainty before finally receiving her first two publishing offers during the same week in 2022. This was nearly a decade after she first began writing.

“It was cool to see after all those years of working, [all the offers] came at once,” Ms. Dean said. “I remembered when I started, I read that it takes the average author 10 years to get a traditional publishing contract, and I really thought that it would not take me that long. I was clearly mistaken.”

Even with Ms. Dean’s hundreds of experiences with rejection, she still felt that there was something to learn from it. She emphasized that success, whether as an author or in life, comes from dedication and persistence. 

“Rejection wasn’t failure. Failure, for me, was not writing at all,” Ms. Dean said. “The publishing industry is hard. There are lots of chances to not succeed. You have to say to yourself, ‘This is my dream, this is my goal and I’m not going to quit no matter what.’”

Hearing about an author who faced struggles throughout her journey but still worked toward success at what she loved gave aspiring student authors a powerful message. The library felt the event was a success, especially for aspiring authors and romance readers.

“I think the biggest message the kids could take away [from the presentation] was that failure only happens when you stop,” Co-Librarian KatieAnn Prescott said. “She talked a lot about coming back from rejection, which is always important for kids to hear.”

The event was planned in a way to make it memorable for both the students and Ms. Dean herself. A welcoming committee greeted Ms. Dean upon her arrival, making her feel especially appreciated.

“We did a lot to prepare for the event,” Ms. Prescott said. “We advertised a ton, we purchased books for each of the kids who had signed up, we purchased specially made cupcakes and cookies for them, and just tried to make it as special as possible. It was really important to arrange all the little details.”

Apart from the main presentation, students were also able to interact directly with Ms. Dean through a book signing. This one-on-one experience gave students the opportunity to directly interact with Ms. Dean.

“I enjoyed the experience,” Bhavana Prayaga ‘28 said. “As someone who [likes to write], I felt that there was a lot to take away from her story.”

Ultimately, Ms. Dean hoped that from the experience, students would feel encouraged to keep pursuing their own interests, even when progress might seem stagnant. Her story shared the importance of trusting the process and being determined. 

“Whatever it is that your dream or goal is, it will be hard,” Ms. Dean said. “Along the way, you will face rejection, and you will face setbacks, but the main thing is that you keep going.”