The Daily Rejection

Got my most recent editing pass of The Prequel done! I kinda plowed through the last eight or so chapters yesterday. They're fairly short. There are one or two very minor things to clean up, then I think this puppy's ready for betas.

Sorry for the R's, Eliza and mazblondie!

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. It's back to work today for me... finally reading through the first draft of MS5 and taking meticulous notes so that as soon as Jan 1 hits, I'll be ready to start draft 2.

Hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Seems like everyone is back to work on their manuscripts. Me, too. It feels good to be back writing again.

I'm not back to work on MS. Still trying to hold out for a bit longer at the "letting it rest" stage.

Just got my new Kindle, so I've been looking at potential comp titles. Then I ran across books concerned with of getting it on with mythical beasts. No thanks.

Then there are the 50-Shades sort of Persephone retellings. Ew.

There must be some way of restricting searches to stuff that isn't self-pubbed...

I've also been doing preliminary research into other myths I might tackle next.

I'm also holding off on more queries. Two of the agents who requested in twitter thingies have said they are reading subs over the holidays. I was hoping for feedback before I do more. But if I don't hear by next week I suppose I should just send more Qs out and then get back to my new shiny.

Hathor said:

I'm not back to work on MS. Still trying to hold out for a bit longer at the "letting it rest" stage.

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me too.... I've been catching up on that thing called reading... So. Many. Books. To. Read.

Well, I read through the first draft. First 1/3 was worse than I thought, second 1/3 was as expected, and final 1/3 was actually better than I'd anticipated. I also discovered that I have two characters that are way too similar and that my opening scene is probably the worst opening scene I've ever written. So, today's task is going to be brainstorming a new opening scene.

The edit for my agent is done, proofed, and final.

Now I just have to write a bio.

Anyone else hate hate hate writing their own bio?

Drachen Jager said:

The edit for my agent is done, proofed, and final.

Now I just have to write a bio.

Anyone else hate hate hate writing their own bio?

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whats the brief on that? How long does it need to be? I imagine it'd be stressful

"brief" is exactly all I got.

A brief bio.

I figure one manuscript page should do it. It's easier to cut than it is to add. Fortunately I found an old one I'd done for my previous agent and just changed a few things.

A whole page? Seems too long. Maybe just four or five lines?

Wow a page! Mine would be: "I'm Emily, I write things, and aside from writing things I am a photographer. What kind you ask? Well, anything really; kids, puppies... And there was this one time where I rocked up to someone's house and they wanted glamour shots of their pet praying mantis. No writing credits, just a fort made of books and a hundred thousand post-it's"

I really really don't envy you DJ! Hopefully I'll have gotten some more writing creds by the time I need one! (Hopefully on both counts!)

ChocolateChipCookie said:

A whole page? Seems too long. Maybe just four or five lines?

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After opening up the one I made for my previous agent I remembered. That's what I sent her at first, a quick, two-paragraph bio, but she asked for the whole manuscript page version. I guess editors like a little more background.

Mine has nothing by way of writing creds LGG (I have a few, but they're too minor to bother with). I have led a somewhat interesting life, however, so finding material isn't a problem, it's the talking about myself part I'm not good at.

Well, no R's.

But as I was doing my most recent editing pass on The Prequel, I made an Excel spreadsheet marking out each chapter by the POV character and the word count of each chapter. I found that, unsurprisingly, of my four POV characters, the one I like the most (Archie) got the most words (28%) and my least favorite character (Charles) got the least (14%). It was an interesting exercise. I might do the same for Channing, which only has two POV characters.

Happy New Year everyone! Trashed my WIP for a new one, but I'm feeling really good about it and look forward to working on it in earnest over the next few days (possibly after New Year festivities are over).

liz-- yay for no Rs!

Aaand of course I get sick. So much for writing--bundled up in blankets trying to stay warm and drinking tea like it's going out of style. My brain feels all fuzzy, so diving into edits isn't gonna happen.

Weirdly, neither of my agents ever had me do a bio. When I talked to my editor the day we accepted her offer, the convo started pretty much like this: "So, nice book! Where do you live and what do you do when you're not writing?"

There was another editor who asked about my bio and social media presence. So I guess it varies with fiction.

Good luck on the revisions and new ms., everyone! May you get happy news and minimal Rs in the new year.

Hm, my Bio wouldn't be too interesting. If it were the blurb on the back of a book, it'd be: Elizabeth works in Washington DC and lives in Northern Virginia with her roommate and her roommate's cat. She likes to write.

Okay, maybe it would be a little more interesting, but not by much.

Bio template:

When [author name] isn't writing, he/she works as a [day job] and enjoys [hobby]. He/she lives in [location] with their [family members] and entirely too many [animals/plants/family members/hobby-related objects].

I blogged about my little Excel-spreadsheet-fueled analysis:

http://queensransom.wordpress.com/2...sday-multiple-main-characters-and-word-count/

Yes, that is shameless self-promotion!

I have my very short bio (Nora is a writer living in San Diego with her boyfriend and pet rabbits.) and then a page-long expanded version as well. And of course my super-short twitter bio--Nora's just this gal, you know?

Cripes, I lost the latest/edited version of my thriller and had to beg agent to send me a copy. Really tripped me out when I couldn't find anywhere in my files.

And HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL THE REJECTS, HOPING THAT Y'ALL WILL BE ACCEPTED TENFOLD IN THE NEXT YEAR.

Tri

triceretops said:

Cripes, I lost the latest/edited version of my thriller and had to beg agent to send me a copy. Really tripped me out when I couldn't find anywhere in my files.

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Unless you clear your mailboxes regularly there's no need to ask your agent to send it. Just look in your outbox for the e-mail, you can get the attachment from there in most cases.

Just popping in to say Happy New Year!!

I've been busy doing an exclusive R&R. I've just finished the first round of edits and am waiting for more notes from my PW mentor before I start the next round.

Christmas was tough. My uncle was given three days to live on December 22, but he was miraculously sent home from hospital this morning. The doctors can't account for his recovery. I am beyond thrilled.

And the only other news I have is that I received a letter from the government that I passed my audit this morning. I will sleep easy for the first time in weeks tonight.

Do pass the champagne. I feel like celebrating.

Szczęśliwego nowego roku! Happy New Years!

Happy New Year, folks! Hoping 2015 will be the year of big "YES"es for us all!


DJ - Did you check out my author bio mad libs?

Nora - Feel better soon! We've been passing around illnesses around here this last month, too.

Carleree - Hey, I didn't know you had an R&R! Congrats!! And WOW about your uncle! Christmas miracle, indeed!


As for me, I have work to do! Starting off the year with two WIPs to revise and polish makes me feel like I have a lot ahead of me.