Purgatory's Pit of Doom

(((Soul))) Oh yes, I love horror. In fact, last night I polished off a horror short story I wrote two years ago, and then started writing a new horror short story. I'm thinking about putting a small collection of horrifying short stories together and e-publish them in a single volume. This might help me deal with the pain of waiting to hear something on the novel.

By the way, I received two QR's this morning.

Hedge, welcome to the pit. I'm new here, too. Just wanted to warn you about the pendulum swinging back and forth above. Don't be afraid of it, though. Just grab a handful of maggots off the floor and snort them. They will make it go away. They're really nice, the maggots, you know. Here, you can have some of mine if you like.

soulcascade said:

Now if some disgruntled author was somehow capable of applying these curses in real-life to obtain an agent, that disgruntled author would most certainly obtain an agent.<- this. Sooo we've determined that none of us have kick-ass hexing powers then

WOOT JEQ are you a horror fan? I LOVE horror but it's so hard to find others who like it too{{Octavia}} too bad cause you're gettin' one anyway!

Click to expand...

*whistles and digs through pagany books*

I tried liking horror, but my brain and imagination say no bueno, so I listen to them now. They seem to know what's best for me.

Hedgetrimmer said:

You guys have room for one more in here? I terminated my agent contract this morning. After nearly 18 months and two unsold middle grade novels, I felt it was time to move on. My ex-agent didn't do anything wrong, but he just couldn't seem to sell my work. He could sell his other client's stuff, and so I felt like that whole, "It's not you, it's me" break up-thing. I'll have to reassess my future writing for the juvenile market, but in the meantime I'm making really good progress on my adult novel. I plan to complete it sometime this summer. Hopefully the fall will be more kind to me.

Click to expand...

If you have a spoon to carve yourself out a bed, then there's room! Mind the hellhound poo. They're not pit-broken.

Its2Snappy said:

(((Hedge))) The Pit is endless, welcome.

Note to self: Do NOT piss off Steve or Red's sister.

(((Octavia))) Hugs anyway. Cause why not?

Soul, I'm a HUGE horror fan but on the movie side not books as much. I've seen far too many D-class horror movies in my youth. LOL.

Nothing to report. Empty inbox. Trying to let writing partner revise and take a step back; my obsessing doesn't help. Seriously considering alternatives to agent route. Current ideas: 1) epub or 2) Minor rewrite from urban fantasy back to paranormal romance and gear toward Harlequin's Nocturne line.

Click to expand...

I'm super excited to see scream 4.... when it's on dvd...... and noon... with every window open.

My thought is that epub and looking for an agent don't have to be mutually exclusive . Do both!

ink wench said:

Some of you have some scary powers. The best I can do is pick winning slot machines, but even that's never netted me more than $10.

Click to expand...

Yes, but I heard a rumor (not to be repeated in the Pit) that you may have picked a winning agent slot machine...

Leigh.Lyons said:

If you have a spoon to carve yourself out a bed, then there's room! Mind the hellhound poo. They're not pit-broken.

Click to expand...

That depends on how you define "pit-broken."

At any rate, welcome to our humble Pit, Hedge.

RedScylla said:

That depends on how you define "pit-broken."

At any rate, welcome to our humble Pit, Hedge.

Click to expand...

pit broken= goes in the corner like the rest of us!

Aw, Hedge, sorry to see you here, but you are welcome.

{{JEQ}} if you do epub LET ME KNOW I WANNA READ!!! I bought Leigh's e-book (it's sitting on my Kobo as we speak *bounce bounce* can't wait to dive in!) and would like to read more AWer's stuff.
Did you see 1n$ideous? Was pretty cool!


*siddles up to Leigh* *points out a particularly nasty spell*

*SHHH Red! you'll Jinx Ink if you make such insinuations in the pit aka no luck land!*

Sorry, Hedgetrimmer. There are a lot of agent divorcees in the Pit.

Before Red threatens me for being here, I just found out that my dad had to be rushed to the ER last night. Looks like some kind of heart issue, but the doctors aren't sure what as yet. He's stable now, fortunately. Now I'm feeling even more pukey than I was this morning.

(((Jeq)))

((((Ink)))) Wow, what a day. I wouldn't know how to feel. Hugs to you.

Oh My God! {{{Ink}}} I'm so sorry to hear that My thoughts are with you. Keep us posted?

(((Ink)))

Thanks, guys. It's weird. Stress piled on stress, and the body can't tell the difference.

A friend of mine said the same sort of thing, Ink. She went through a horrible stretch where everything was going wrong. Bad work environment, family member passed away, I think she came close to having a breakdown. She told me that people can only handle so much bad news. After a while, when you're as stressed out as you can be, when you hear even MORE bad news you don't get more stressed 'cause you're already maxed out.

ink wench said:

Sorry, Hedgetrimmer. There are a lot of agent divorcees in the Pit.

Before Red threatens me for being here, I just found out that my dad had to be rushed to the ER last night. Looks like some kind of heart issue, but the doctors aren't sure what as yet. He's stable now, fortunately. Now I'm feeling even more pukey than I was this morning.

Click to expand...

Oh damn it! Why is it when even one nice thing happens, something lousy has to happen to counteract it? Boo. Hope they'll have answers for you soon.

Leigh.Lyons said:

pit broken= goes in the corner like the rest of us!

Click to expand...

I was thinking more like "pit-broken"= adequately crushed by disappointment as to be comfortable in the Pit.

{{{Ink}}}

Okay, guys. Please don't throw any maggot guts my way, but I have to step out of the pit. My agent's boss (the agency owner) called and convinced my not to leave. I tried to remain adamant in my decision, but she pleaded a strong case and in the end persuaded me to give them a little more time. I said I would give them until the end of the year, but no way could I enter the New Year without something having sold. ((sigh)) This whole publishing business is really stressful. Hope to see all you guys on the other side soon, or maybe I'll be back. Who knows in this crazy industry.

*blinks* WOW that was the shortest stay yet! Good luck Hedge.

You have a great agent and a great agency who cares about you - don't forget that! Most times when a writer walks away the agent says *meh* It's prob no consolation but I consider the very fact they called you to ensure you stay good news.

Hedge, mean this in the most polite way possible: Glad to see you leave.

But remember--you may leave The Pit, but The Pit never leaves you.

Wait a minute Hedge! What about the maggots?! What are they going to do now?! You're breaking their little hearts! They had so many things to show you! They wanted to show you how eventually everything in the pit floats! They promised me that they will make me float someday and I for one believe them! You're missing out on an opportunity here, too! Did you tell the agent's boss that?! HUH?! Did you tell the boss about the maggots?! You never even snorted the ones I gave you, did you?! DID YOU?!

Actually, good luck Hedge. It's great to hear that somebody is getting out of here. Hope that book sells.

And Soul, of course I will let you know if I e-publish something. It's probably going to be a collection of three or four short stories. I'm hoping to wrap it up within the next couple of weeks.

Thanks, guys.

Soul -- They really are good people, and I hated drafting that letter in the first place, but I'm just getting emotionally drained by the whole thing. She said she would hate for me to give up writing, and I had to quickly tell her that I may give up trying to publish but I'll never give up writing. Putting the words on the page is what sustains me from day to day. It's that other thing that sucks the life out of me.

JEQ what are we stuck in S. King's 'IT' now

they floooaat. they allll floooaat. and when you're down here, you'll float too.

One of my fav books / movies

soulcascade said:

WOOT Snappy! A Kindred spirit! I LOVE campy horror

Snappy I like your 2nd idea, does that line take books from agentless writers {{squeeze}} it's so hard to keep getting smacked down and not want to give up

Click to expand...

I can say with a fair amount of confidence if there's a campy horror made between 1970-1998, I've seen it. LOL.

Yes, they do take agentless writers and apparently Harlequin is more responsive to "new" writers. The constant smackdown is draining.

(((JEQ))) Send the RQs = revenge queries!

Leigh.Lyons said:

I'm super excited to see scream 4.... when it's on dvd...... and noon... with every window open.

My thought is that epub and looking for an agent don't have to be mutually exclusive . Do both!

Click to expand...

LOL. Scream 4 looks fun. Enjoy! And VERY true, epub and agent = definitely not mutually exclusive.

(((INK))) I hope your dad is okay.

Hedge, congrats. Run! Run while you can!

soulcascade said:

JEQ what are we stuck in S. King's 'IT' now

they floooaat. they allll floooaat. and when you're down here, you'll float too.

One of my fav books / movies

Click to expand...

Haha! I was wondering if somebody was going to recognize that. LOL

JEQ said:

Haha! I was wondering if somebody was going to recognize that. LOL

Click to expand...

Immediately! I was like ACK it's Pennywise!