Flunked out

I have never failed a class of any kind in my life.  Even in trigonometry in high school, which might as well have been a foreign language, I made a D+.  Well, the Children's Institute of Literature has officially told me there is no hope for my novel about Dean Knight.  The idea isn't publishable they say.  They also say it's not my writing; it is the idea.  I wonder if they are just being kind.  They are refunding a third of my money and wishing me good luck.  I am depressed a lot, and I'm not sure what my next step should be.  Do I give it up?  Is there a time when one should wake up from one's dream and get a real job?  I have a real job, but I don't have my dream.  It hasn't been a good 2011.  Surely, 2012 will be better.  Or perhaps, I am past the point of having good years.  Maybe there will be no more good years, just acceptable ones.  Sorry for the downer.  I'm not sure what's going to happen next.  I don't know what to do.  How does one overcome a blow like this?