The Daily Rejection, Vol. 2

I am jumping into this club. First round of queries all rejections, though some are still out. Waiting until after the new year to send out the next batch. I'm trying to focus on the positive- an agent actually read the MS and said it was well-written, marketable, and she really enjoyed it. (YAY) BUT it wasn't her genre. (Sniff, sniff)
Anyway, all my rejections seem to be form- not right for them.
I am lucky enough to have a former editor in my acquaintance circle, so she has graciously offered to read it and give me an opinion.
So now I am using my time to focus on my other projects. (and forum lurking, online puzzles, updating my playlist, you know, productive stuff) And maybe tweak my query.
Oh, and there is wine involved- some coping methods are really effective.
But it is so hard not to take it all personally.

You guys remind me I am not alone.
We just have to keep doing what we love.

rocoroca said:

Hi guys! *waves* Joining the rejection club with my first post!

I've been querying for a while now, and I just received a rejection from a top agent in my genre a couple of days ago, so that's a kick in the gut. I've got my MS out as partials and fulls with other agents now, so I'm trying to stay optimistic, but as the days go by, I can't help but think they're all going to come back with a rejection amongst the lines of "this book is trash and you're trash for sending it to me." It's hard to keep the self-doubt away during querying, isn't it?

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I'm so sorry, but I laughed at your "This book is trash and you're trash for sending it to me" because that is EXACTLY what it sounds like in my head. You're absolutely not alone in that line of thinking. But you're not trash, and neither am I. We're trying. The fact that we completed the projects we were working on is a victory in and of itself. The fact that we're getting requests shows we've got something. And if not this project, then the next one, or the one after that. But we have to get those written in order to find out which one it'll be. Crossing my fingers for you!

I'm still waiting here in the trenches on my fulls. I'm having a REALLY hard time getting any writing done lately, combo of some nasty headaches that have left me unable to brain during writing time, a few super early wake-ups where I've bypassed writing time and just gone to bed, and being too damn busy at this time of year (family obligations, Christmas shopping, travel, etc). I need to figure out where the pause button is on life so I can get some writing time.

It's a rough time of year! I'm about ready to query agents for the first time in ages, but will wait until after the holidays. All I'm managing for writing in the meantime is flash fiction for the Flash Countdown thread, plus incremental fixes on a novella I'd like to shop soonish.

Good luck to everyone who's waiting to hear--and hoping for good news when you do.

R cookies to Collie, Taylor, & anyone else who needs 'em.

Collie, I hear ya. I'm trying to get to that point with the currently-querying book myself. Can't give up on it until I've run through all the possible agents, but can't say I'm expecting it to suddenly gain traction when it's been sliding through R-land like it's greased. Here's to success with the next one!

rocoroca - to the roller coaster! Have an R cookie and a good stiff belt of whatever takes your fancy.

Winterwind - also Keep the wine flowing and the queries going.

Cannelle - If you figure out that pause button, patent that sucker. I'll buy two!


Ugh, the cold I thought was on its way out has changed its mind and moved back in. There's only so much tea and soup one human can ingest, y'know?

captaincrow — Thanks for the encouragement! Oof, it sucks you didn't snag your dream agent then, but if it's any consolation, I gotta say the book described in your signature sounds super interesting! Might just be the magic manuscript that'll have Mr. Agent tripping over his feet to offer you representation

CameronJohnston — Cheers for the kind words—and I sure can't wait for that last sentence to come true! I'm not letting myself get carried away with high hopes, but man, if I really do get some positive responses, I'll be over the moon, and I'll definitely be telling my self-doubt to *redact* itself to space and beyond

Cannelle — Love what you wrote! Amen to that: we're not trash, and we've both got something to offer as writers. Wishing all the best for you too!

Liz_V — Thanks for the welcome and the cookie, Liz_V! Hope you get well soon—I just recovered from the chicken pox recently, so I can commiserate a little. As if we're not suffering enough from querying!

Another rejection on a full. It was a very nice one, as rejections go. Kind, and mentioned things they liked, and then said they didn't think they'd be able to sell it to a mainstream house.

So, yeah.

What's the record for full requests with no offers?

rocoroca said:

captaincrow — Thanks for the encouragement! Oof, it sucks you didn't snag your dream agent then, but if it's any consolation, I gotta say the book described in your signature sounds super interesting! Might just be the magic manuscript that'll have Mr. Agent tripping over his feet to offer you representation

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Aw, thank you so much! I should print things like these out and plaster them on a wall. I could need them more often than not. (Though the query sounds even more interesting, if I do say so myself.)

Collie said:

Another rejection on a full. It was a very nice one, as rejections go. Kind, and mentioned things they liked, and then said they didn't think they'd be able to sell it to a mainstream house.

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That sucks! The farther you get the more awful it feels when you get a rejection after all, but you already got this far. Some agent will be so in love with your story they'll be absolutely convinced about selling it to a mainstream house, and some mainstream house will be so in love with your story they'll absolutely want to publish it. (I'm not sure if this is a good example at all, but you've probably heard of Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me series. The writing is unlike anything I've ever seen--it's surely not mainstream--but it was published by a mainstream house and is a bestseller.)

Got a lovely little rejection there, very complimentary.

Ah, yes, it's the little things that count...

*flings R cookies, goes back to shoveling snow*

*sprinkles R cookies like glitter* They're homemade and come with a cozy mug of cocoa and a hug.

Liz_V, send me some of your snow! The Chicago area barely gets any anymore, and that makes me so sad. We've got some flurries right now but it won't amount to anything. I love snow. Love watching it, love taking my daughter for a walk in it. I blame my Norwegian heritage. I could sit and watch it snow for hours. The huge picture window in my living room was a major draw for me when we moved into this house, but it hasn't snowed much since we moved here.

Is it normal to freak out a little when your phone signifies a notification (which, like 99% of the time ends up being a text about the garbage collection bill, a Twitter notification about someone liking something, all things of little to no consequence, and NOT EVEN KIDDING MY PHONE JUST BUZZED AND I DIED INSIDE, and it was someone following me on Twitter )? Every time I get an email, I give myself a pep talk before I open it. I seriously don't expect anything to come of my fulls- it would be really, really nice, but I don't have my hopes up. But I still kind of have to mentally prepare myself for that R, to remind myself that it's okay and that just because this project doesn't go anywhere, it doesn't mean I won't. Is everyone else better/more nonchalant about this than me? My hide is much thicker than it used to be, but it still has a lot of thin spots.

I SWEAR. As soon as I hit post on this, my phone buzzed. Junk email from Apple. I need a drink, or a Xanax, or a Xanax drink, if that's a thing (it should definitely be a thing).

reading about your phone ringing with notifications is giving me a heart attack lol

R cookies for all here, with extra chocolate chips for the holidays.

Also, it might be best to put a pause on the queries between mid-December to early January. Most agents close off their mailboxes, and are focused on just clearing out everything in their inboxes for year-end. So, keep on polishing those queries, give yourself some good holiday time off for all you've accomplished this year, and get ready to gear up for querying again next year!

Captain Crow - <3 <3 <3

My phone also likes to do this evil thing where it signals an email, and when I open it, there's an email icon in the top bar, and so I swipe it down, dying a thousand deaths all the way, and then the email icon disappears, which is my phone's way of going, "Oh wait, sorry, LOLZ, that was just spam. JK LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL," not even suspecting that one of these days I might toss the whole thing straight into an open sewer.

Okay, I wouldn't, more due to the fact that it would contaminate the waterways than anything. PHONE!!!!

Gah, over a week into break and I have not done any writing or editing. Not sure why I am having sooo much trouble getting off my butt. I have been sick but there was only about 2 days where it was bad enough to prevent productivity.

Got 2 short story rejections this week. Sent them back out but feeling very unhopeful about them. I've been subbing short stories for years and I have never gotten anything even resembling a nibble.

I also recently broke up with my bf of 6 years. It was semi-sort-of-mutual but still pretty sucky and is probably not helping with my desire to live on my couch in my pajamas.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Canelle, you’re hilarious. I have a love/ hate relationship with notifications. A xanax drink sounds ahmazing.

Ugh, sorry about the breakup, noranne. That's always hard, even when it's mutual.

Sorry to hear about the breakup noranne Hope your tomorrows will be better, and that you finally get that short story acceptance.

Aw, noranne.

noranne. Even mutual breakups suck, let alone semi-sort-of-mutual

Popping in to say hello! I was out of the US on vacation for a week this is my first day back (and back to work, eurgh).

Odd thing: My laptop wigged out on vacation--it stopped working completely, but as soon as we got back to freezing Michigan it started right up. I'm thinking it must have been the humidity? But I'm relieved it's not fried. Computer not turning on meant I did a ton of reading on vacation and got through five books in a week which felt amazing because I never let myself lay around and read anymore.

Now I'm itching to write. But first I have to get through the 96 emails in my work inbox.

Happy holidays to those of you that celebrate the different festivities that crop up this time of year!

Personal rejection from Nature Futures on a story I sent in August. I had honestly forgotten about it!

Cannelle said:

Liz_V, send me some of your snow! The Chicago area barely gets any anymore, and that makes me so sad. We've got some flurries right now but it won't amount to anything.

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That's because it's all coming across the lake and dumping on us, instead. Really, you could keep some. We wouldn't mind.

noranne - R cookies, and, uh, breakup booze? Sympathies, anyway. Even if it was mutual, that's always hard. A little PJs-on-the-couch time is perfectly valid.

sockycat - That's one way to unplug, I suppose! Glad it started working again.

I think every computer in my house has some kind of issue right now. None of them work-stopping, but all variously aggravating to work around.

Taylor - R cookie.


Got a query R yesterday from an agent whose agency web site strongly implied that they always respond, then waited until after you jumped through the considerable hoops of subbing via their webform to inform you that they're NR=N. And now here's the response. And they wonder why we don't always take the info on agency websites seriously.

Not-quite form R yesterday on a query I submitted on July 25. She added a sentence about how she’d held on to it longer than she liked to consider it, which might be true or might be a polite and pleasant ‘sorry it took me almost 6 months to reject you’ addition as she cleans out her inbox. It was nice to imagine myself as sitting in a maybe pile, though, so I appreciate the addition (though I’d long since marked it as CNR).

Happy Solstice, all!

3 queries sent on nov 22, 2 form r, one didn’t reply (website states that no reply after 2 weeks is rejection). Sent a changed version out to my dream agent yesterday. How often do you change your queries? I honestly have at least 3 versions I could use, and find it difficult to decide which one to sent each time I query.

By the way - these are my very first queries, didn’t expect it to be so exciting/terrifying/dispiriting:-o