The Rejection Challenge & Winning the AWP Award

After racking up an impressive number of rejections, Chital Mehta’s manuscript won the AWP Novel Prize (judged by R.O. Kwon) and was published by University of Nebraska Press.

Chital and I discuss getting her MFA, setting herself a “rejection challenge,” and finding a balance between writing and motherhood.

HAVE YOU SEEN ROMIT? (out now!) is about a middle-aged Indian woman who sets out to find her missing son and discovers, in the searching, the full force of who she is.

The Long Road to Publishing with Eva Langston:

• Follow me on Substack or subscribe to my Substack Newsletter for Writers.
• Find me on Instagram and Blue Sky.
• Send me an email at longroad.pub@gmail.com
• To pitch to the podcast, go here
• Find books by guests and books mentioned on the podcast at the Long Road Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/evalangston
• The Long Road to Publishing is sponsored by Wonderland Books: https://www.wonderlandbooks.com/
• Long Road to Publishing Index on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DdGvqV5FTIt/?img_index=1

CHITAL MEHTA:

• Website: https://chitalmehtajey.com/
• Substack: https://substack.com/@chitalmehta
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chitalmehta/
• Chital poses with her book: https://stumblingyetwriting.substack.com/p/book-photoshoot-chapter-one-sneak

Show Notes:

• Courtney Maum's book and Substack are both called Before & After the Book Deal: https://courtneymaum.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips
• Jane Friedman's website: https://janefriedman.com
• Shoutouts to: AWP, Grubb Street, University of Nebraska Press, R.O. Kwon, McCormack Writing Center, James Alan McPherson Prize, Huxley and Hiro Bookstore

Credits:

The Long Road to Publishing is sponsored by Wonderland Books. The show is produced and edited by Eva Langston, and the intro/outro music comes from the artist Soundroll on #Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/lost-in-love

License code: EEKRDQPCTGSBM5LZ

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