The Daily Rejection

Carleree said:

Great. Now I can't get Blame Canada out of my head.

So far I'm holding strong on the illness front. I missed the last cold that had everybody here laid up for weeks. Something tells me I won't be that lucky this time.

Taking a bad penalty 30 seconds left in the game is pure stupidity. Tsk. Tsk.

Click to expand...

Mentioning it made the song fly from my brain to yours. It should make you feel better to know that a far worse song now settled into mine. I won't mention the name, because then someone reading this thread might hunt me down.

Eat well. That always helps me hold off a cold. If I have anything with sugar and someone sick is about, I'll immediately get sick, too. Maybe that's an old wives' tale, but I'm an old wife.

"Tsk" isn't exactly the expression I used at the time.

I think I'm already getting this bug. I have zero appetite.

Also, I looked up the house I grew up in on Google Maps. Broke my heart. It's black. Who paints a house black? I thought I'd verify my memories with pictures from the neighborhood. Instead they tore down all my landmarks and it looks all wrong

Tired of getting the run-around from agents, so I tried a new tack today.

Through the website general contact I've approached the editor who saw and liked my manuscript, but felt there were too many problems for her to pursue it. Hopefully she'll get back to me with some level of interest and I can either submit directly or use that information in getting an agent.

Carleree said:

Also, I looked up the house I grew up in on Google Maps. Broke my heart. It's black. Who paints a house black? I thought I'd verify my memories with pictures from the neighborhood. Instead they tore down all my landmarks and it looks all wrong

Click to expand...

Yes, a black house seems strange.

It bothers me when things change. Buildings gone, businesses vanished, perfectly fine trees and azaleas ripped out by the new neighbors... Honestly, we're doing a lot of retaliatory landscaping these days. This tree is to block that view, etc.

My daughter went to a conference at her old college recently. She called to complain that things were different. "I walked down Thayer Street and saw thirteen changes!" And you guys thought I was anal

Drachen Jager said:

Tired of getting the run-around from agents, so I tried a new tack today.

Through the website general contact I've approached the editor who saw and liked my manuscript, but felt there were too many problems for her to pursue it. Hopefully she'll get back to me with some level of interest and I can either submit directly or use that information in getting an agent.

Click to expand...

Won't you have to pay your ex agent if you go with this editor?

Hathor said:

Yes, a black house seems strange.

It bothers me when things change. Buildings gone, businesses vanished, perfectly fine trees and azaleas ripped out by the new neighbors... Honestly, we're doing a lot of retaliatory landscaping these days. This tree is to block that view, etc.

My daughter went to a conference at her old college recently. She called to complain that things were different. "I walked down Thayer Street and saw thirteen changes!" And you guys thought I was anal

Click to expand...

Retaliation landscaping? Poor you.

It killed me to see all the changes. They call it revitalizing the neighborhood, but I call it killing my good memories.

Sigh, things change, don't they? Wer'e not putting up spite hedges, just trees and bushes to block our view of trashcans, fences, weeds, grass (where once there were trees and bushes), houses, and bizarre landscape configerations. Why move to a neighborhood with mature trees and bushes and then take them out?

At least out of our sight is the house where the guy piles up miscellaneous stuff in his yard until he either has a yard sale or takes it all to the dump. He pokes plastic flowers about his property. That's around the corner.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, I read an article today, entitled "Triceratops reclaims adult status." Good for you, tri!

Carleree said:

Won't you have to pay your ex agent if you go with this editor?

Click to expand...

Maybe. I think there's a decent chance I can get her to bow out after the way she treated me (she does have a soul and I'm pretty certain she feels badly about the situation). Otherwise I just have to wait until November to wait out the clause. Considering how long the process takes I don't expect to be signing before that anyhow.

Snail mail rejection. Rejections are beginning to sound like courtships gone wrong. "It didn't stir my passions." "I didn't fall in love with it". :

This might prompt me to write back, 'Well, can you at least wank to it?'

Well, no, not really. But I'd be thinking it for a few bitter minutes.

Filigree said:

This might prompt me to write back, 'Well, can you at least wank to it?'

Click to expand...

wank.

Or you could say, "Just close your eyes and think of England".

Nova Odyssey said:

Snail mail rejection. Rejections are beginning to sound like courtships gone wrong. "It didn't stir my passions." "I didn't fall in love with it". :

Click to expand...

He seemed so interested and said he'd be in touch. But he hasn't. I sent an email and he never responded. Maybe I shouldn't have done that -- he'll think I'm a needy nag. We could be so happy together. Why can't he see that? Maybe it was something I said...or didn't say.

He contacted me. He said he couldn't be with me. But it was him, not me. He said he just wasn't the right one for me, but he wishes me all the best.

I was at the walk-in clinic with my kids tonight and didn't get the chance to accidentally taint your game, Hathor. Yay for the Caps!

Heya Hathor, this wasn't you the other day at the ball game was it?

http://videosift.com/video/The-Unluckiest-Couple-at-a-Baseball-Game

Thanks, Carleree. We pulled a victory out of potential defeat. The Rangers scored with 50 seconds left and I started pacing about the room, "No, no, no..." The headline here: "Capitals Survive To Play At Least One More Game." Nothing like confidence.

No, DJ, that isn't me. I wouldn't go to an AL game. The designated hitter rule is an abomination.

Do you guys use the 'new agent alerts' page at writer's digest? I check it every month or so, and I just stumbled across an agent who looks absolutely custom-fit to my manuscript. "I tend towards x type of novel, and I'm really looking for y, or z, or q, in a novel." And here I'm thinking what about x, y, z, and a bit of q thrown in the mix? I haven't been this hopeful about an agent in years.

Fingers crossed he agrees with my assessment.

I've never looked at that list. It seems like a great resource. Good luck, DJ!

Hi AW!

I have never posted on the forums before, although I've been reading them for years, especially this thread. It has helped me so much along the way to know that others are going through the same thing I am with the querying process. And I just wanted to say, for those of you still searching for your perfect agent, it can happen! I have been trying to get an agent for four long years. I have been so depressed by rejection at times I felt like giving up. This last project I sent out over 120 queries (mostly rejection) and guess what? It finally happened! I signed with an incredible agent this week. But even that wasn't easy. I had to do two separate rounds of revisions over six months before she finally agreed to represent me, but it was all worth it in the end. Her exact words to me were: "You did it!"

I just wanted to wish everyone good luck and tell you to NEVER give up. It will happen if you have determination, perseverance and belief in your work

Welcome to the thread, Inkson, and HUGE CONGRATS on your offer! Best of luck on sub!

Big laughs to all the courtship responses.

Inkson said:

Hi AW!

I just wanted to wish everyone good luck and tell you to NEVER give up. It will happen if you have determination, perseverance and belief in your work

Click to expand...

and a BIG Congratulations! thanks for sharing this. It definitely helps to hear these stories.

Drachen Jager said:

Do you guys use the 'new agent alerts' page at writer's digest? I check it every month or so, and I just stumbled across an agent who looks absolutely custom-fit to my manuscript. "I tend towards x type of novel, and I'm really looking for y, or z, or q, in a novel." And here I'm thinking what about x, y, z, and a bit of q thrown in the mix? I haven't been this hopeful about an agent in years.

Fingers crossed he agrees with my assessment.

Click to expand...

I have found several agents that have specifically asked for what I wrote. I mean, in their bios or articles i've read and so on, they said they wanted x, y, z. And I'm all excited because it seemed like they'd read my book and tailor-made the request for me because I wrote x, y, z.. On every single occassion this happened, I didn't get a request. Nine out of ten times I didn't get a response at all, not even a form R.

I hope you have better luck than me.

Inkson said:

Hi AW!

I have never posted on the forums before, although I've been reading them for years, especially this thread. It has helped me so much along the way to know that others are going through the same thing I am with the querying process. And I just wanted to say, for those of you still searching for your perfect agent, it can happen! I have been trying to get an agent for four long years. I have been so depressed by rejection at times I felt like giving up. This last project I sent out over 120 queries (mostly rejection) and guess what? It finally happened! I signed with an incredible agent this week. But even that wasn't easy. I had to do two separate rounds of revisions over six months before she finally agreed to represent me, but it was all worth it in the end. Her exact words to me were: "You did it!"

I just wanted to wish everyone good luck and tell you to NEVER give up. It will happen if you have determination, perseverance and belief in your work

Click to expand...

Tri bows to one knee and doffs his fedora. I'm am so humbled by this show of courageousness and willingness to forge on. What a remarkable story. You should blog about it, or guest blog somewhere about this.

Welcome, Inkson. You HAVE arrived.

Tri

I queried an agency today that had really unclear directions on their website. After three failed e-mail attempts I almost gave up, thinking it would just be a rejection anyhow, but I tried a fourth time, it went through and an hour later I have a full request!

First one in a while, I was beginning to think agents could smell the stink of desperation on my e-mails.

If you're interested Carleree, it's a new agent at an agency that only takes Canadian authors, they never repped YA before, but the new one does. AFAIK that information isn't really out there except on their website, so I don't think she's being heavily queried yet, and she obviously has low standards if she requests my manuscript.