1. You start receiving personalized, “encouraging” rejections.

2. Agents or editors reject the manuscript you submitted, but ask you to send your next work.

3. Your mentor (or published author friend) tells you to contact his agent, without you asking for a referral.

4. An agent or editor proactively contacts you because she spotted your quality writing somewhere online or in print.

5. You’ve outgrown the people in your critique group and need to find more sophisticated critique partners.

6. Looking back, you understand why your work was rejected, and see that it deserved rejection.

(This list was found in Jane Friedman’s article Revising Your Path to Publication found in Writer’s Digest, June 2011.)