The Daily Rejection, Vol. 2

Thanks, y'all! It's been such a long road to get to this point, and I sort of can't believe it's happening. I'm sure it'll be real at some point. There was a lot of ugly crying on Friday, and while my friends and my husband have been saying "Aren't you EXCITED???" I have to reply that I am, but I'm mostly just stunned, like I can't get my head around it.

So I'm basically just living out the longest week ever, sending emails with follow-up questions I was too flustered to remember on the phone, telling myself that I'll work on a new project but mostly reading a little, playing Candy Crush on my phone, and going to sleep early. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.

OMG!!!! JENERAL!!!!!





I KNEW it! I KNEW you were going to land an agent for this! I just KNEW it! You've just worked soooo hard!!!! HOORAY!!!!

Sorry I'm overusing emojis. I'm just sooo, sooo happy to hear this news from you!!!! It's been such a long haul.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

I log back into the board for the first time in ages, and I see wonderful news. CONGRATS JENERAL!!!!!

Jen, CONGRATULATIONS! I haven't been around these parts in ages, but I got wind of your news and, well, YEY!!

So I haven't been here since before I went traveling back in the summer... oops. Hi guys.

Congrats Jeneral! That's great news

As for me I submitted an R&R two months ago. I didn't receive an acknowledgement, so I nudged a few days ago. So far, crickets. Which is odd because when I agreed to do the suggested changes I got an answer within 30 minutes. Maybe I'm just overthinking things and need to be more patient.

Jeneral - OMG! So happy for you!!! And not just an offer, but multiple offers! Woot and triple woot with a side of woot sauce!


RaggedEdge - Sympathies on the "which opening did she read" craziness. Like this business isn't subjective and contrary enough as it is.... If she seems like the sort who'd be open to it, I'd drop her a line and ask which sample she was commenting on. Just for the sake of your sanity.

Also, yay on the #PitMad request!

Nova - And speaking of subjective and contrary.... Add it in, take it out, wash rinse repeat....

Pegster - Cheers on the partial!

If 34 Rs gets you close to average, them I'm so far above average they need to invent a whole new category for me. Er, yay?

Belle_91 - Cheers on the full!

Moonie -

Tri - If life gives you crickets, go fishing?

Tamlyn -

merlot143 said:

Intellectually I know it's a good thing. But on a visceral level, it's like getting note that says "I don't like your kid" vs. "I don't like your kid because he's ugly."

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LOL! But yes, it is still a good thing. Not as good as a not-rejection, but a step up from a form R.

M.Charles & everybody else who needs 'em - R cookies are in the kitchen. Help yourselves.

First, major congrats to Jeneral! That's amazing!

(Note to self, find out about Pitch Wars)

And another rejection today.

Been away for a bit, but it looks like 2016 is closing out with some better news. Congrats, Jeneral--what a huge accomplishment! And congrats if I missed someone. I've been tied up starting my first middle grade ever. What a learning experience. I think I've lost my mind. Before it, I knocked out my first romance. Changing horses in the middle of the stream.

A publisher from 3.5 years ago, who I reluctantly rejected and told to keep me on the "no hard feelings back-burner" got a hold of me yesterday and asked if my YA paranormal was still available. I just couldn't believe it. How could they have possibly remembered me from so far back? I told them that the book had not sold to the majors, but had sold 10 times to the little pubs--agent and I passed on all. It has since then become a trilogy and all the titles have been changed. They asked me what would it take to sign. I said my agent's involvement again. So guess what....I put them on the "no hard feelings waiting list" until I told agent about it. I knew Screamcatcher was popular, but I would have never believed that it would sit in somebody's dugout for that long. A Twilight Zone moment, to be sure.

M.Charles - Sorry about the R. I feel your pain.

Pitch Wars details are here. It's a yearly contest, so it'll come around on the guitar again next August. (yes, that's from Alice's Restaurant. Yes, I grew up listening to it.)

Thanks again y'all. I'll be so glad when this is all finalized. At this point in the proceedings, I'm refreshing my email every 10 minutes, and there are a fair number of agents who haven't responded to the nudge, and at this point I kind of don't expect them to. Hmm.

Jeneral, you never know about more offers. Sounds like you have a hot property. You pick and choose as you like. Good luck nabbing the best one for you.

skydragon - Ugh. Yeah. That's frustrating. Crickets always are. Hope you hear back soon!

Liz_V -

M.Charles - sorry about the R

Jeneral - hang in there! When I had my offer, it took most nudged agents almost to the deadline to get back to me. Two never did.

tri - that's an exciting development! Good luck!

Popping in to say CONGRATS JENERAL!! So exciting well done!!!!

Jeneral said:

Pitch Wars details are here. It's a yearly contest, so it'll come around on the guitar again next August. (yes, that's from Alice's Restaurant. Yes, I grew up listening to it.)

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We just listened to a live version of that a couple of weeks ago, because it's the best Thanksgiving song ever.

An R in my inbox today - breaks up the crickets, at least. Wondering if I should branch out to US agents. I've almost exhausted the list of agents in my country who rep what I'm writing.

for the recent Rs in here.

skydragon - I say go for it. Just remember that US queries differ from UK queries. You'll see lots of examples of US queries in the Query Letter Hell subforum of Share Your Work here on AW. Another great source is QueryShark.blogspot.com.

Tri - that's really cool about the publisher remembering your story and still being interested! That would make my month, even if nothing ever came from it.

JJ - LOVE your new avatar! You belong on a book jacket, for sure.


The other day I checked my inbox to see a reply from the agent who bumped up a partial to a full a month ago. For a full hour I sweated opening that thing, and finally did just to find it was only a notice of receipt. Aaaaagh. Talk about anticlimactic. At least now I can expect the next time I hear from her to be an answer one way or another.

Liz_V said:

RaggedEdge - Sympathies on the "which opening did she read" craziness. Like this business isn't subjective and contrary enough as it is.... If she seems like the sort who'd be open to it, I'd drop her a line and ask which sample she was commenting on. Just for the sake of your sanity.

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Thanks, Liz. Actually, a few days after I posted about this, I got a second email which was a reply to my second query, just saying please see the earlier response. So I'm relatively certain she'd read the original pages. That doesn't mean I don't still feel the insanity, all the same.

Congrats, Jeneral!!!

It's great to pop on after a while away and see that there's some terrific news. Congrats, again and again and again.

RaggedEdge said:

JJ - LOVE your new avatar! You belong on a book jacket, for sure.

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Thanks! I finally went to a pro photographer. Now I wish I'd done it sooner.

Good luck with that request!

Seriously, JJ, that picture is stunning.

I've been AWOL again, but CONGRATS JENERAL!!! So excited for you I'm really looking forward to reading it from everything I've heard. Patience... =)

I hit the big 4 Oh, and I don't mean birthdays. Is it considered "personal" if, after clarifying complete lack of interest in my project, they urge me to keep querying other agencies? Almost all of the replies have my name, and thanks, and hope you didn't get too many callouses battering the fingerboards querying us. I've gotten two requests on this project, but I gotta admit, I was hoping for more, out of a hundred. Ah well. Merry Christmas.

Oh, and I ran the query letter through my writers group, and read half the archives on Query Shark, before giving it a shot. Someone asked about that in a previous posting.

JENERAL!!
so happy to hear this! We were doing our R&R on the boards more or less together. (AND I'M STILL WORKING ON IT, even agented)... so it feels extra good that you got this! I had a feeling too. you were getting always close, close, and BAM. made you work it a bit.
WOOHOO.

Pegster, I think the general rule of thumb is to consider it a form rejection unless they mention a specific element of your story, like character names or a plot element.

Thank you all for the cheers! I really appreciate it. I realized that I started querying this book almost two years ago to the day. Three rewrites later, lots of queries and angst later, I signed an agency agreement today. It still feels kind of not real.

Congratulations Jeneral! That's so wonderful : ) I hope you just wallow in it for a while : )

Thanks, and congrats on the agent, Jeneral! Auguri!