The Daily Rejection

Hooray for requests, Careful! Woot!

And Hathor, you dinosaur dork, stop making me laugh. Milk just came out my nose and my kids were terrified.

Damn, is there a 12-step program for query writers? I wrote two different ones yesterday...and a new one just now.

I like them. I like all of my versions until people read them and point out what's wrong with them.

Hathor said:

The benefit of expecting rejection is that you'll at least have the satisfaction of being right.

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sadly true!

Oooh, boy. I need a paper bag to breathe into, y'all - I'm going into the fifth week waiting for a response to my R&R. I mean, that's not too long in the grand scheme of things, and I knew he was probably being optimistic when he said "2-3 weeks," but my nerves are getting the better of me lately.

Best of luck to all of us!

I didn't say you were a Dinosaur Dork, I just thought it TO MYSELF! (no.)

One thing to think about is that it is natural in the query process to explain why you wrote x and y. BUT, the agents aren't going to ask you that, nor are they privy to that information. So you need to look at it that way. It's like an audition. One chance - and about 5 seconds until they've formed their opinion of you.

I've sent a new version of my query over to the other site. I hope I'm moving in the right direction at least...

polly, logically you did say I was a dinosaur dork, or I looked like one. I consider you one of those "young folks" you mentioned. Everyone younger than me is part of that class.

Actually, I am a dinosaur dork. None of them thar Facebookies, the twitters, and such. I suppose at some point, in my abundant free time, I'll have to figure that all out.

Hathor said:

I've sent a new version of my query over to the other site. I hope I'm moving in the right direction at least...

polly, logically you did say I was a dinosaur dork, or I looked like one. I consider you one of those "young folks" you mentioned. Everyone younger than me is part of that class.

Actually, I am a dinosaur dork. None of them thar Facebookies, the twitters, and such. I suppose at some point, in my abundant free time, I'll have to figure that all out.

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Did you know that 'dork' is actually slang for penis? You might want to take some of that back.

Drachen Jager said:

Did you know that 'dork' is actually slang for penis? You might want to take some of that back.

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OK, consider it taken back. But for all I know, it's slang for some womanly part or other, too.

I ran across an interesting site the other day with sexual and scatological slang (developed by a Finnish university of all places). It included a yodeling reference. Commander, please!

Hathor said:

None of them thar Facebookies, the twitters, and such. I suppose at some point, in my abundant free time, I'll have to figure that all out.

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From Dictionary.com

The history of dork is a short one. It’s been around only since the 1950s or 60s, originally as a slang term for “penis.” Most likely dork was just an alternative form of dick, a word that started out as a nickname for Richard—a name meaning “fellow”—but which by the late 1800s, had taken on the additional meaning of “penis” (which is certainly part of a fellow) in British army slang.
By the late 60s, American college students had extended the meaning of dork to refer to a socially awkward person. While at first this sense of dork carried pejorative connotations, the term has since been “taken back” by the people it once so cruelly described, and now can even be given as a compliment. If a girl calls a guy “adorkable,” (the combination of “dork” and “adorable”) she means to say he is cute in a socially awkward, yet endearing way.
Geeks and nerds, while still dorky, are generally considered more intelligent than dorks. Next time you call someone a dork think about its short history in the English language, and reflect upon what a word nerd you are.

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My son was in hysterics yesterday when we were in the ski lodge and he was reading a mag. where the climbers were attempting "Long Dong Wall". 11 years olds. Good times.

Oh Lord, you guys, I am gonna have a heart attack!

That partial request yesterday....they asked to see the full! This has never happened to me before. I've had agents ask for material based on my query including pages. But I've never had my first 50 turn into something more!!!

Today, I'm not a reject!


Sh*t. Now I have to send the rest :-/ Ugh. I can feel that rejection already. And it feels so much more painful that the others. I feel like I'm on a rollarcoaster climbing up the highest drop. You know that moment where you panic and you look down and it's so far and you're like OMG LET ME OFF THIS THING!!

Reject from Entangled after 87 days. Sheeze...I had high hopes for at least a partial request.

Hooray Careful! That is lovely news!!!! It will be what it will be, and that is the view from "Long Dong Wall."

Woohoo Careful! Best of luck to you!

CAREFUL! Good luck!

Way to go, Careful. Now we have to go to the old Daily Rejection standby -- cue the bananas:



Seven, for good luck!

I couldn't get the seventh banana cuz I'm a dinosaur something-or-other.

I'll try again. I hope that works...

My new query's finally up. Looking good...because no one's commented yet.

Well, my husband said it was fine. But he's liked all the other versions, too. (And he cooks, too. I think I'll keep him.)

Hathor, can you link me? Thanks for the bananas and even the b anana.


Thanks everybody! I just closed my eyes and clicked send. Would anyone like to volunteer to check my inbox for the next month or so?

carefulwithwords said:

Hathor, can you link me?

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I suppose so. We're both consenting adults.

Seriously, do you mean to the public query slushfile site? http://openquery.blogspot.com/

Hate to tell you, hon, but you may be waiting for more than a month or so to hear back on a full.

I still can't figure out why I hit the smilie seven times, but the seventh time didn't work. Indeed, I tried to edit (deleting seventh banana and inserting another one) and ended up with the same result.

Computer programs just do weird things around me.

Woohoo Careful!

And the rest of you, stop making milk come out my nose. My daughter is traumatized.

Reject of the day. Amusing, not in any way bruising:

Neighbor: So you're working again?
Nova: Yes, but consulting now. (pauses, considers whether to bother, cringes because she's supposed to market herself). It also allows me to work on my second novel.
Neighbor: You write? I never knew! When did your book come out?
Nova: Oh, it's not published. I'm looking for an agent for the first one while I work on the second.
Neighbor: Oh, I had four clients who were writers. I mean, real writers. Of books.
Nova: Ah yes, real writers.

Nova Odyssey said:

Reject of the day. Amusing, not in any way bruising:

Neighbor: So you're working again?
Nova: Yes, but consulting now. (pauses, considers whether to bother, cringes because she's supposed to market herself). It also allows me to work on my second novel.
Neighbor: You write? I never knew! When did your book come out?
Nova: Oh, it's not published. I'm looking for an agent for the first one while I work on the second.
Neighbor: Oh, I had four clients who were writers. I mean, real writers. Of books.
Nova: Ah yes, real writers.

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Of books. Cause us fake writers only make up jingles for Pepto Bismol.

Typical.