The Daily Rejection

Thanks for the good wishes. I don't know how you all handle the waiting. Hard not to keep checking my phone. I hope this week brings some happy news for people!

So glad I found this site. I think it may just keep me sane

Drachen Jager said:

Getting frustrated with my agent.

I guess things are just busy, post Christmas rush or something, but I don't think it should take two weeks to review some light edits to my MS (5,000 words or so of changes, highlighted so he can jump through without reading the whole thing again) and come up with a list of editors to send the thing to.

Or am I expecting too much?

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I don't have experience to know what's normal (saw you got some advice from someone with a lot of experience). But I would imagine him being new-ish is contributing, and also he seems (based on what he tweeted) to be concentrating on his query pile at the expense of the fulls he has from a number of us (but I would think not at the expense of his clients)... Did he give you an expected time frame? If you didn't do so next time when you send him something I would def include, "could you give me an idea of when you think you'll get back?" or something.

Been watching publisher's marketplace for your "Deal".

totally.trying.not.to.panic
that a book was just published super similar to my own's small niche in history, pitched in same vein.... aaaaaaa. ok it's all good, I'll tell myself. can use in marketing platform. head.on.desk.
excited, however, to read it.

Hathor said:

Oooh, spoiler alert, huh? I thought the LI was... But maybe he's also... I obviously need to read more. I just finished devouring Book 1.

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I don't want to spoil anything else, but book 2 is where the H & P comparison really comes in. Maybe you don't wind up reading the whole series, but at least read book 2.

Feeling like I'm drowning in this re write! I read Writing the breakout novel yesterday and LOVED it. It's definetely the best book on writing ive ever read. Unfortunately (fortunately?) it's given me loads of ideas and now my MS feels like a jumbled up mess. I'm much too close to it I'm sure. Must power through!

Happy MLK day! Are the NY editors working today? Are the agents? I'm not sure if it's a day off for them or not. Meanwhile, it's 6 1/2 months for the last editor reading my mss. And I thought waiting for agents took forever!

Welcome Kay!

Some agents are working today, I just got another form R. And from someone I really liked, too. Dammit.

Well, I hit the midpoint reveal in my first draft revision at 42k. Feeling pretty good about the progress so far, though I'm revising at a bit slower pace than what I normally do. Slow & steady, right?


Nova - Yup. The "ACK THAT BOOK IS TOO SIMILAR TO MINE!" freakout happens to all of us. Just remember, even two books about the same topic are going to be told completely differently by different writers!

WendyN said:

Well, I hit the midpoint reveal in my first draft revision at 42k. Feeling pretty good about the progress so far, though I'm revising at a bit slower pace than what I normally do. Slow & steady, right?


Nova - Yup. The "ACK THAT BOOK IS TOO SIMILAR TO MINE!" freakout happens to all of us. Just remember, even two books about the same topic are going to be told completely differently by different writers!

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WendyN- thanks for that. appreciate the veteran feedback. I'm out of the gloom more now (total, total gloom). My husband just brought the book back and turns out it's a short novella, so there is one big difference already. Then the pitch on the back cover is totally not my pitch (the amazon review pitches it just like my book). I'll read it tonight, it's that short. the author's agency follows me on twitter, but I can't submit as they don't take US authors, but they appreciate I'm promoting the book. It was more so the review that did me in-hitting on all the things I would hope would be reviewed of my own.

oh midpoint reveal! did you snicker? I do when I start revealing secrets as I write.

Don't you just love those days when you're struggling to tie the loose ends of your plot together when suddenly it hits you, if you turn everything sideways there's an obvious answer that not only fixes the problems, but adds an entirely new dimension to the whole thing?

That's why I write. Those moments.

Nova Odyssey said:

oh midpoint reveal! did you snicker? I do when I start revealing secrets as I write.

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Oh, man, no. This one actually really made me feel kind of sick to my stomach for my MC. I basically took everything she thought she knew and turned it upside down, so now all she wants to do is run away from the whole situation. (Which, of course, I already know she isn't going to be able to do.)

WendyN said:

Oh, man, no. This one actually really made me feel kind of sick to my stomach for my MC. I basically took everything she thought she knew and turned it upside down, so now all she wants to do is run away from the whole situation. (Which, of course, I already know she isn't going to be able to do.)

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You cruel, cruel person.

Makes for a great story though, doesn't it?

Heh just got a form R (8:30pm) for a old MS (so old not even in my sig) that I sent Jan 2014!

WendyN said:

Oh, man, no. This one actually really made me feel kind of sick to my stomach for my MC. I basically took everything she thought she knew and turned it upside down, so now all she wants to do is run away from the whole situation. (Which, of course, I already know she isn't going to be able to do.)

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Oh, one of those...

Drachen Jager said:

Don't you just love those days when you're struggling to tie the loose ends of your plot together when suddenly it hits you, if you turn everything sideways there's an obvious answer that not only fixes the problems, but adds an entirely new dimension to the whole thing?

That's why I write. Those moments.

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Yeah, that's the best right there!

Yesterday I got a nice but form rejection from one of the agents I was really excited about.

Nova, I had the same experience this summer, and I flipped the eff out right here on this thread. Then I realized it was a NON-fiction book about the exact historical event I wrote a novel about.

RationalIdealist, sorry for the R!

DJ, yes! Sometimes I think I'm into writing just for those Eureka moments when everything finally makes sense.

Hugs, Rational. That just happened to me, too.

I'm sure the rest of my current queries will end with rejections. I've got a new version of the query that I'm going to try. But even if I'm not getting published, I'm starting to feel more like I'm part of a writing community. That was one of my goals in writing, to be part of something greater than just me. So there's that.

Still, I really would like to get the help of an agent with publishing this book.

It's a hard slog, JJ. If you just keep getting better (or at least failing in new and innovative ways) and keep working you can push the odds pretty high in your favour. There's no guarantee, but if nothing else, it feels good to keep improving.

Thanks, DJ. I am still improving, and that does feel good.

I finally went through the December Locus. It's getting to where I recognize a lot of names in there as I read through, authors, agents, and publishers. Now I should catch up to the January issue, too.

I just finished Browne and King's Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, and I'm feeling really lost. Not because I'm like "omg so much to fix" but because I disagreed with so much. Not necessarily what they said, but the before/after edits that were shown, I almost always preferred the before. When reading excerpts I honestly couldn't tell if it was supposed to be an example of what not to do or what to do and I'd have to go back and read the lead-in to check. So wtf is wrong with me? Am I just a weirdo as a reader? Now I'm thinking my writing is never going to be good, if what I like itself isn't considered good.

Drachen Jager said:

Don't you just love those days when you're struggling to tie the loose ends of your plot together when suddenly it hits you, if you turn everything sideways there's an obvious answer that not only fixes the problems, but adds an entirely new dimension to the whole thing?

That's why I write. Those moments.

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Then there are the days you sit down to write said moment of genius and find you've completely forgotten that tiny nuance you came up with that made it all work. Happened to me once or twice. Screaming children could have contributed to the brain fart.

Noranne, it's been a while since I read that book, but if memory serves (and my above comment shows it does not serve very well), they used a lot of classics as the "before" comparisons. Like The Great Gatsby. Perhaps where you're getting hung up is that one of the things we love about those classics is the language. To read it any other way wouldn't be right in our minds. Then we see how they would be edited for today's market, and it takes some of the spark out of it--the original is preferable based on our experience reading such works. But editing for today is very different, and those edits are to starkly show the contrast.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/curtissittenfeld/things-no-one-ever-tells-you-about-the-publishing-industry

The list is okay, but it's motivational at the end and I love the John Stewart gif.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

I finished the first read-through of my MS, sent it off to my CP. It came back minutes later. haha. I've got a lot of homework to do, but it's worth it

Is anyone doing the New Leaf twitter pitch? It's 1/22. I'm bummed my MS won't be ready in time. They're my dream agency.

Well, found some new publishers with the help of a friend who I cherish. I'll try Screamcatcher again, although the damn thing has already received five offers. But, they're really not up to snuff, as my agent pointed out to me when we reviewed them. I hope to have better luck this short little round.

My agent still has my thriller, a portal fantasy and a time-travel action/adventure. I think that's why I haven't written a new book. Shist, I have to sell what's finished and ready!

tri