I should say I took it into my head he'd never be born. The doctor told me I was having another boy.
The Daily Rejection
- Thread starter Devil Ledbetter
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I was going to say it, but Hathor beat me to it. DJ, you can have your Canuck agents. But for the love of god, leave me my navel gazing. I'm perfecting it.
Sorry for all the Rs, people.
I've got crickets here, too. And I'm in a holding pattern on new queries at the moment. Too much happening with work and life, and I'm still holding out hope for my full/partial/queries out there.
We're also busy remodeling our basement into a guest room for my boyfriend's nephew/nephew's girlfriend coming from Europe in May. Must fix creepy crawly problem before then. Do they have centipedes over there (Sorry, Carleree)? If not, she is totally going to freak out.
Exploding Hathor. Nice image 
I have a blog. No one visits my blog, but I write it. I doubt I'd be any kind of competition either.
Sadly, the only agent at WH I want is one that only takes snail queries and I'm out of toner and can't find my US stamps. Guess I'll have to stalk one of the lesser agents instead.
I have a blog. No one visits my blog, but I write it. I doubt I'd be any kind of competition either.
Sadly, the only agent at WH I want is one that only takes snail queries and I'm out of toner and can't find my US stamps. Guess I'll have to stalk one of the lesser agents instead.
Doctor was wrong, right? Mine was always right. I guessed both the sexes before my kidlets came into the world.
DJ: Telus support is following me on twitter. Thought that would give you a laugh. WHO would follow them back?
Ha, sure, 'flapper' is just fine... flappers have more fun than philosophers anyway!
Yes please, I'll take some words! It's funny because my colloquial writing style (letters, journals, here) isn't brief at all, I ramble and go on forever. I've written emails over 4000 words. I need to write characters who are more like me...haha.
I am going to work on the wordcount thing. I do think it's quite good as it is.... BUT everything can be better, and if low wordcount is going to shot it in the foot, well, that can be better. It's literary (slash historical, sorta), so you can get a way with a liiitttle bit less length than some genres... but most of the slim prize-winning literary novels of late aren't debuts. If it refuses to get longer I suppose I could always set it aside till I've done all right with longer ones (the one I'm starting to start certainly won't be short) but I really only want that as a last resort. I believe in this and I believe it's good (AND it's technically my fourth novel so the 'toss out your first one' thing hopefully shouldn't apply) so I will put every effort into it. Even if it means I'm NOT done working on it yet after all.
Haha, amusing how an almost-novella ballooned! I do have heaps of backstory for this, so I could always go through all of that from the beginning and end up with an East of Eden epic...haha. (no, I'm not going to do that).
Thanks to everyone for encouragement etc.-- it really helps to be able to come here and share! Best of luck to everyone!!!
Yes please, I'll take some words! It's funny because my colloquial writing style (letters, journals, here) isn't brief at all, I ramble and go on forever. I've written emails over 4000 words. I need to write characters who are more like me...haha.
I am going to work on the wordcount thing. I do think it's quite good as it is.... BUT everything can be better, and if low wordcount is going to shot it in the foot, well, that can be better. It's literary (slash historical, sorta), so you can get a way with a liiitttle bit less length than some genres... but most of the slim prize-winning literary novels of late aren't debuts. If it refuses to get longer I suppose I could always set it aside till I've done all right with longer ones (the one I'm starting to start certainly won't be short) but I really only want that as a last resort. I believe in this and I believe it's good (AND it's technically my fourth novel so the 'toss out your first one' thing hopefully shouldn't apply) so I will put every effort into it. Even if it means I'm NOT done working on it yet after all.
Haha, amusing how an almost-novella ballooned! I do have heaps of backstory for this, so I could always go through all of that from the beginning and end up with an East of Eden epic...haha. (no, I'm not going to do that).
Thanks to everyone for encouragement etc.-- it really helps to be able to come here and share! Best of luck to everyone!!!
Jealous. Only email I'm getting are AW notifications. Mind you, I like seeing those too.
Was the R on a query?
Yes. Doc also thought I'd need a Caesarian and the birth was easy.
flapper -- yep, just turn the villain into the love interest, add someone from a Mob family, and add a twist where the mystery isn't solved when you thought it was. The word count explodes.
Want words? Adverbs, no contractions, always use "that" when it's optional (like "he saw that"), spaces when using em dashes (two words right there), introductory words (okay, oh, yeah, so, well, indeed), duplicative words (at all, right now, etc.), logically unnecessary words (often use of now, then, here, at this point, under the circumstances, etc.), other unnecessaries (like "I thought," "I saw," "in order to" instead of "to"), use of progressive tenses, use of repetition and the other person's name in dialogue, describing things that don't need description.
I don't know these will improve your work, but you'll have words galore.
You are right. Established writers can get away with word counts the rest of us can't.
DJ: still good odds if you ask me. I have four fulls and one partial, but as the wait goes on the stats point to no.
Hathor: What is an easy birth like? Mine were horribly long and painful.
Also, fabulous word-adding suggestions. You have learned so much since you started cutting away from your work. I'm impressed.
Hathor: What is an easy birth like? Mine were horribly long and painful.
Also, fabulous word-adding suggestions. You have learned so much since you started cutting away from your work. I'm impressed.
Easy birth is (DJ: avert your eyes, I mean it!) baby whooshing out after a brief labor and two tiny pushes. Only in the hospital because you went in earlier than the doctor said to go. Only in the presence of the doctor because he happened to drop by your room "to see how you are doing." I like to tell my husband he almost delivered our daughter -- it always freaks him out.
In case you didn't avert your eyes, DJ: if the baby comes fast, that means there are no problems.
But my first labor was horrid -- I guess it evens out.
Edit: it went faster second time because I sat in a chair, rather than lying on a bed. I think gravity helped. Maybe that is common advice now, but it wasn't back in my day. I had to keep telling them, "No, I'm going to sit." Also, they tried to make my husband leave to go fill out forms (I ended up going to a different hospital than the one we had preregistered for due to where my doctor was). They yelled at him, but he refused to leave me. He said if they wanted him to sign something, they damn well could bring it to him. If he had left, he would have missed the birth.
Yes, what I've learned from cutting my work is my first impulse is to be wordy.
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Cool, I turned to the Pens/Flyers during an baseball break. I saw Crosby whining about something and a wonderful hit by Malkin on...Crosby. Way to go guys! (For those of you who aren't hockey fans, Crosby is a crybaby and he's on the same team as Malkin.)
One other suggestion for word count -- passive constructions are often longer than active ones. Then there's the typical lawyerly double negatives. There's a reason agents often say they run the other way when they see lawyers querying them. Lawyers are taught to be ever so precise, spelling everything out, etc. That has its place, but it doesn't make for scintillating prose. Except to other lawyers
Sorry about all the serial comments.
Another word bloating action is what one blogger calls the "walking across the room" syndrome. Explain everything a character does: decides to leave, stands up, walks across the room, opens the door, walks through the door, closes the door...
Oh, that reminds me of another source of excess words. Shrugging shoulders (what else would be shrugged?), winking eyes, nodding heads, walking out the door, sitting down, standing up, etc.
Yet another -- unnecessary dialogue tags. From context or the presence of a sentence saying what the character also does, it is clear who's talking.
Another word bloating action is what one blogger calls the "walking across the room" syndrome. Explain everything a character does: decides to leave, stands up, walks across the room, opens the door, walks through the door, closes the door...
Oh, that reminds me of another source of excess words. Shrugging shoulders (what else would be shrugged?), winking eyes, nodding heads, walking out the door, sitting down, standing up, etc.
Yet another -- unnecessary dialogue tags. From context or the presence of a sentence saying what the character also does, it is clear who's talking.
Woohoo, great word adding suggestions!!! It won't be readable but damn it, it will be 80K words!!!
I have no villain per se, but my love interests and antagonists are mostly synonymous already. Also protagonists and antagonists. My people have issues. I think I should totally throw the mob in. It's the UK so no bootlegging, but cocaine was big....
More seriously... you know, there's something to be said for this rejection thing. I've been working on rewriting today and worked solid for six hours, writing 15 pages. That's a personal best! This rejection thing has crystallized my determination. Now it MUST get published! No matter how hard I have to work! I WILL DO IT!!!
I have no villain per se, but my love interests and antagonists are mostly synonymous already. Also protagonists and antagonists. My people have issues.
I think I should totally throw the mob in. It's the UK so no bootlegging, but cocaine was big....More seriously... you know, there's something to be said for this rejection thing. I've been working on rewriting today and worked solid for six hours, writing 15 pages. That's a personal best! This rejection thing has crystallized my determination. Now it MUST get published! No matter how hard I have to work! I WILL DO IT!!!
Excellent, particularly for an even-numbered day.
This was one of my early rationalizations on this thread, about rejection making us better writers and so being ultimately for the best
This was one of my early rationalizations on this thread, about rejection making us better writers and so being ultimately for the best
Are even-numbered days the ones not to believe in your work? I'm still catching up.
Yesss, it's true-- in any field you want to succeed in, really, there comes that point (or several) where you have to work harder or give up. I have a boring story about that, but, anyway, I'm definitely the work harder type! (even if I wouldn't mind one little partial request... ).
Yesss, it's true-- in any field you want to succeed in, really, there comes that point (or several) where you have to work harder or give up. I have a boring story about that, but, anyway, I'm definitely the work harder type! (even if I wouldn't mind one little partial request...
).
Yep, that's my system. Of course, you can switch to the reverse or some more complicated system if you want. (Phase of the moon?)
For you, Carleree, since you indicated you couldn't watch the Pens/Flyers game. A montage of Sid the Kid's night. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=ki9BBjg0fbw&NR=1
For you, Carleree, since you indicated you couldn't watch the Pens/Flyers game. A montage of Sid the Kid's night. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=ki9BBjg0fbw&NR=1
It was too nice not to share.
Speaking of Godiva, I have some chocolate upstairs. I'm trying to figure out when to break it out. I've been making progress on the NF. I think I figured out this morning how to organize it, cut down the word count substantially, and minimize wonkiness-induced eye glaze. I'm down to 92,000 words so far...
(I hate Word. Hate, hate, hate. It keeps switching my section breaks from "next page" to "continuous." I've been swearing at it, but that doesn't seem to work.)
But the next Caps/Bruins game is starting in a few minutes. I may need that chocolate later. I don't see why our games are so strangely scheduled. The game today is in Boston, and a game tomorrow is back in DC. We had a three day gap between games earlier. How hard is it to schedule games every two days?
Speaking of Godiva, I have some chocolate upstairs. I'm trying to figure out when to break it out. I've been making progress on the NF. I think I figured out this morning how to organize it, cut down the word count substantially, and minimize wonkiness-induced eye glaze. I'm down to 92,000 words so far...
(I hate Word. Hate, hate, hate. It keeps switching my section breaks from "next page" to "continuous." I've been swearing at it, but that doesn't seem to work.)
But the next Caps/Bruins game is starting in a few minutes. I may need that chocolate later. I don't see why our games are so strangely scheduled. The game today is in Boston, and a game tomorrow is back in DC. We had a three day gap between games earlier. How hard is it to schedule games every two days?
I watched the first period of the Caps/Bruins game and fell asleep. Then they scored a whole bunch of goals. So, my gift to you is to not watch anymore more Caps games so they can win. Apparently the trouble happens when I'm front of the TV.
I made cupcakes. Want one?
I made cupcakes. Want one?
Here I thought the problem was me watching. I don't know how many of these one-goal-margin games I can take.
I listened to the final period in the car and was yelling about the officiating. How peculiar is that? Then the last few seconds were taking forever. We were approaching the underground parking garage, and I thought we'd lose the signal. I told my husband to drive around the block. (He refused but then missed the turn in, so we had to do that anyway)
Another game tomorrow here, scheduled at a time overlapping with a baseball game I have tickets for. Really, there are four partial series, and I picked the one that has had games for every home hockey playoff game so far
I'm not sure where I can see the end. Probably hard to get a seat at a sports bar in the middle of the game.
Saw a long play tonight (nearly four hours). All I could think of was what an agent today would say upon reading dialogue like that. Probably wouldn't get past the first speech. Funny line though -- the novelist character making a crack about how everybody thinks they can write.
I'd love a cupcake, assuming you have any left. I'll share some of my chocolate. But maybe for breakfast. I'm tired now...
I listened to the final period in the car and was yelling about the officiating. How peculiar is that? Then the last few seconds were taking forever. We were approaching the underground parking garage, and I thought we'd lose the signal. I told my husband to drive around the block. (He refused but then missed the turn in, so we had to do that anyway
)Another game tomorrow here, scheduled at a time overlapping with a baseball game I have tickets for. Really, there are four partial series, and I picked the one that has had games for every home hockey playoff game so far
I'm not sure where I can see the end. Probably hard to get a seat at a sports bar in the middle of the game.Saw a long play tonight (nearly four hours). All I could think of was what an agent today would say upon reading dialogue like that. Probably wouldn't get past the first speech. Funny line though -- the novelist character making a crack about how everybody thinks they can write.
I'd love a cupcake, assuming you have any left. I'll share some of my chocolate. But maybe for breakfast. I'm tired now...
*passes cupcakes around* They're good, too.Here I thought the problem was me watching. I don't know how many of these one-goal-margin games I can take.
I listened to the final period in the car and was yelling about the officiating. How peculiar is that? Then the last few seconds were taking forever. We were approaching the underground parking garage, and I thought we'd lose the signal. I told my husband to drive around the block. (He refused but then missed the turn in, so we had to do that anyway
Another game tomorrow here, scheduled at a time overlapping with a baseball game I have tickets for. Really, there are four partial series, and I picked the one that has had games for every home hockey playoff game so far
Saw a long play tonight (nearly four hours). All I could think of was what an agent today would say upon reading dialogue like that. Probably wouldn't get past the first speech. Funny line though -- the novelist character making a crack about how everybody thinks they can write.
I'd love a cupcake, assuming you have any left. I'll share some of my chocolate. But maybe for breakfast. I'm tired now...
I have a problem. Something tells me if I don't watch the game tonight, my team will win. That being said, if I'm wrong, I'll have missed the last game of the season and I don't want that either. No PVR right now (because I live in the middle of nowhere) so I can't even record it.
What to do..what to do..?
Hmmm, yummy. *hands over chocolate*
Maybe you should watch in a mirror. Or standing up, ready to run from the room.
My watching problem was solved. The Nats game was cancelled due to rain. So I can settle in with the three hockey games being telecast here today. One is yours -- and the one game I watched before is the one you guys won. Maybe I'll cancel out any Carleree jinx? Go y'all!
(I can do very boring stuff with my NF at the same time so I won't feel like I'm completely wasting my time. It's going to be cold, rainy, and blustery here all day -- I have no desire to go outside.)
Dare I hope that the three teams I dislike the most will be eliminated today? Let's go Senators! (I can't bring myself to actively root for for Flyers.)
Oh, one more thing. Holtby, Holtby, Holtby.
http://www.csnne.com/hockey-boston-...out-playing-Thomas?blockID=694226&feedID=5364
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