a rejection

Well, I got a rejection from one of my editors today. All bummed out about it. I'm still reading my RITA books, but hope to finish this week. Then I'm going to dive into my writing. I have a couple of books I'd like to write or at least polish up the proposals. I always find it hard to dig deep into the story without first writing a bad first draft. It's like I have to get to know the characters first.
Maybe I'll try that Book In A Week again to see if I can't find something in the stories.
What did I do right for those first two books Silhouette loved?