I know this should be in rejection and dejection but since I shared my initial excitement with you all...I wanted to share my rejection with you too.
I got my Harlequin rejection yesterday. It was very nice and an actual personalized rejection (I have precious few of these)...the things I knew with be an issue i.e. the level of violence were exactly what she cited as the reason for rejection. But what surprised me were the nice things she said about the setting and characters. Also, she cited the lack of internal conflict as opposed to the external conflict. In the original ms there was more internal conflict but I had to cut some of that for length to submit to Harlequin and in my opinion it hurt the story. Namely, I had to kill off a character much earlier in the story and basically elimenate her completely from the story. It was much better when she was in there.
So, in light of the recent rejection, I've decided to shelve the novel for a while and work on submitting another ms that has been languishing on my laptop for a long time. I think it would be perfect for Harlequins Intrigue line. For once a rejection doesn't leave me hurt but has spurred me to get my butt in gear!
I got my Harlequin rejection yesterday. It was very nice and an actual personalized rejection (I have precious few of these)...the things I knew with be an issue i.e. the level of violence were exactly what she cited as the reason for rejection. But what surprised me were the nice things she said about the setting and characters. Also, she cited the lack of internal conflict as opposed to the external conflict. In the original ms there was more internal conflict but I had to cut some of that for length to submit to Harlequin and in my opinion it hurt the story. Namely, I had to kill off a character much earlier in the story and basically elimenate her completely from the story. It was much better when she was in there.
So, in light of the recent rejection, I've decided to shelve the novel for a while and work on submitting another ms that has been languishing on my laptop for a long time. I think it would be perfect for Harlequins Intrigue line. For once a rejection doesn't leave me hurt but has spurred me to get my butt in gear!
But on the upside, you had feedback, which gave you insight as to why they turned you down. That's more than what most would do, so that's great. Good job on being motivated, too!
Have a cookie. 
