The Daily Rejection - Page 215

Drachen Jager · 04-27-2012, 09:41 PM

Bit too much like Whorey Nights don't you think?

What about Whorey Knights?

Hathor · 04-27-2012, 10:02 PM

Only possible if they aren't too hoary. Or haven't drunk too much Yukon Jack.

pollymilton · 04-27-2012, 10:08 PM

I'm totally going to write "Whorey Knights: When Chivalry was in Flower and Knights Were Sold on the Cheap"

Quickbread · 04-27-2012, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hathor

Maybe I'll dribble it on new plants and see if it keeps the hungry deer away.

Oh no, it's fire-in-the-belly good. It's the cure for all things hoar.

Hathor · 04-27-2012, 10:44 PM

I guess I'll save the elixer for myself, then. All this discussion is making me curious. But it's still a bit early to hit the hard stuff.

Or maybe it's this section I'm trying to rewrite. It was too long and there's another section even worse. I'm trying to combine the two, but my brain isn't working this afternoon. I'm trying to switch from coffee back to tea and it's not going well.

itsmary · 04-27-2012, 10:54 PM

Got another form rejection a few minutes ago. I sent out 15 queries a week and a half ago and have gotten four responses. Which isn't too bad, I guess, but all of them have been form rejections. It's still early though, right?

Hathor · 04-27-2012, 11:06 PM

Right. If you're curious, you might check out the average response times for different agents on the querytracker website. This can also give you an idea if they usually respond or ignore you if they aren't interested.

As a general rule, I assume I'm not going to hear from someone after three months, because that's the longest I've waited before someone responded.

Quickbread · 04-27-2012, 11:54 PM

Itsmary, yep, it's early. In my most recent round, I sent 30 queries, and received only 11 responses, 4 of which were requests for more material. All the query rejections were forms.

One of the agents I queried has an average 69-day response time on queries, according to QueryTracker. I had a seven-month response once, and it was a very apologetic full request.

Hathor, it's 8 pm somewhere. And it's Friday. And it's hoary somewhere. Three good reasons to give your YJ a whirl.

Hathor · 04-28-2012, 12:13 AM

Yes, I'm sure the stuff would improve my word choice. In too many sentences in the NF I sound...pedantic. (Yes, most of you guessed what I was going to say.) With a shot or three of YK, I suspect I'd be more colorful. Not sure if the f-bomb belongs in a work about special education, however much it really belongs there. Those, er, f-ers were hurting my baby!

Drachen Jager · 04-28-2012, 12:21 AM

Finally seeing some movement on the Agent front.

Two rejections.

At least this means my e-mail is working.

Carleree · 04-28-2012, 01:13 AM

And another Friday passes in complete silence for me

Quickbread · 04-28-2012, 01:35 AM

For me, too, Carleree.

Sorry about the rejections, DJ.

I hope next week brings everyone here some positive news.

Carleree · 04-28-2012, 01:39 AM

I was sure I would get a boat load of Rs today. I sent out a batch of queries two weeks ago, and in my experience, if you're going to get a response it comes within 14 days.

Too bad for me, though. I'm not sending any more out until I hear back on the subs. I'm coming up on the three month mark for two fulls. Too panicky to nudge though. I'll take the silence.

Drachen Jager · 04-28-2012, 01:50 AM

I think there's been a lot of conferences and such for the past two weeks Carleree. I expect we'll see some action over the weekend and next week.

(fingers crossed)

pollymilton · 04-28-2012, 02:53 AM

I just got some crappy non-news from the agent who was consulting on my letter (charity purchase) and then when we talked, asked to see the whole manu.

She sent the letter back today with her fixes but no mention of manu. UGH. Disappointed.

P.

mayqueen · 04-28-2012, 02:59 AM

I sent out a whole slew of queries last week and the week before. I'm finally starting to hear back. All form rejections. That's better than not hearing anything, I guess. I have a partial and a full out.

Le sigh. It gets me down, but I've gotten better about scanning the email, archiving it in my Writing folder, and going back to whatever I was doing.

pollymilton · 04-28-2012, 04:17 AM

Well. I just emailed Jenny, saying I'd been too shy to say how impressed I was by her, that she would have been my first choice, how thrilled I was to send her my MS and that she was still stellar in my book.

She replied saying "Thanks! I haven't read it yet..."

WOW. I am a dork. Perhaps the queen of all dorks.

P.

Drachen Jager · 04-28-2012, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pollymilton

Well. I just emailed Jenny, saying I'd been too shy to say how impressed I was by her, that she would have been my first choice, how thrilled I was to send her my MS and that she was still stellar in my book.

She replied saying "Thanks! I haven't read it yet..."

WOW. I am a dork. Perhaps the queen of all dorks.

P.

JB Jenny? If so I've got a full with one of her co-agents. We've got a bit of a rapport going so I hope I have a good shot there.

Hathor · 04-28-2012, 06:40 AM

polly,

Try some Yukon Jack. Good for what ails ya.

pollymilton · 04-28-2012, 07:06 AM

Yeah, it's JB Jenny. We talked and I just lurrrve her too much that it's gonna hurt worse than a break up. But at least I was honest about my nerd girl crush.

Hathor, still got all that whisky in my basement, and foolishly drank some wine just now - hubs. out of town and makes me anxious. Unfortunately, I'm allergic to wine and I now have to take benadryl.

Hathor · 04-28-2012, 07:42 AM

Oh, hon, feel better. And stay away from things you're allergic to.

pollymilton · 04-29-2012, 08:57 AM

I am hanging in! Only 3 more nights to go! I honestly don't know how single moms do it, and I roped my folks in today for hiking and then they came to dinner and we watched crazy old westerns. In 1936 John Wayne was pretty darn handsome!

Researching agents. This is like...studying for finals, but longer. GAhhhh.

Hathor · 04-29-2012, 06:10 PM

Worse than finals...for them you know what the answers are supposed to be. But hang in there. There are plenty of cute cowboys, you know.

I know what you mean about the kids. I spent a memorable two weeks alone with mine when they were young. My husband was in the Soviet Union, we couldn't contact each other, and I didn't know when he'd come home. (He had to bluff his way out.)

Anyway, researching agents doesn't bother me as much as writing the query. If you query somebody who probably wouldn't like your book, no harm is done. But if you muff it with a bad query to someone who should like your book...

Eh, you can probably tell, I'm looking at my NF query again. My book doesn't sound entertaining, but oh-so-terribly earnest. I suppose I should rewrite the query to be pithier and closer to the tone of the book. I have to rewrite the proposal too, because everything's reorganized (or getting that way). This is the project that never ends.

Perhaps some agents were scared away by the 110,000 word count? It's 82,000 now and I'm still working on it. Who knows? Soon my book may be too short.

Oh, Carleree, you didn't watch the third period of the Caps/Rangers game, did you? Sigh.

Actually it was probably the fault of either the idiot columnist who wrote that the DC sports curse was apparently now over (Nats lost yesterday also) or my daughter. She called before the third quarter and I had to mute the game. NY scored and I said a Very Bad Word. "Mom, I've never heard you say that word before. I didn't know you cursed like that." "Uh, you didn't?" Great moments in motherhood. Well, I kept the secret for 25 years

Maybe I should call up my son and lob the word at him, too.

LadyA · 04-29-2012, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carleree

I was sure I would get a boat load of Rs today. I sent out a batch of queries two weeks ago, and in my experience, if you're going to get a response it comes within 14 days.

Too bad for me, though. I'm not sending any more out until I hear back on the subs. I'm coming up on the three month mark for two fulls. Too panicky to nudge though. I'll take the silence.

*hugs* The silence is the awful bit. I've sent out about 35 queries, spaced out over about a month. I've got one form rejection and silence. If you get responses within 14 days, then I'm basically screwed. Oh well :/

ETA: Okay, mega-weird, but perhaps posting about silence was my lucky charm. I just got a full request from an agent I subbed to yesterday!

Hathor · 04-29-2012, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LadyA

*hugs* The silence is the awful bit. I've sent out about 35 queries, spaced out over about a month. I've got one form rejection and silence. If you get responses within 14 days, then I'm basically screwed. Oh well :/

ETA: Okay, mega-weird, but perhaps posting about silence was my lucky charm. I just got a full request from an agent I subbed to yesterday!

Yea, you! As customary, have a

04-27-2012, 09:41 PM	#5351
Drachen Jager Professor of applied misanthropy Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Vancouver Posts: 10,430	Bit too much like Whorey Nights don't you think? What about Whorey Knights? __________________ When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they're almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they're almost always wrong.—Gaiman The story must strike a nerve—in me. My heart should start pounding when I hear the first line in my head. I start trembling at the risk.—Sontag Creativity is the residue of wasted time.—Einstein

04-28-2012, 12:21 AM	#5360
Drachen Jager Professor of applied misanthropy Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Vancouver Posts: 10,430	Finally seeing some movement on the Agent front. Two rejections. At least this means my e-mail is working. __________________ When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they're almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they're almost always wrong.—Gaiman The story must strike a nerve—in me. My heart should start pounding when I hear the first line in my head. I start trembling at the risk.—Sontag Creativity is the residue of wasted time.—Einstein

04-28-2012, 01:50 AM	#5364
Drachen Jager Professor of applied misanthropy Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Vancouver Posts: 10,430	I think there's been a lot of conferences and such for the past two weeks Carleree. I expect we'll see some action over the weekend and next week. (fingers crossed) __________________ When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they're almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they're almost always wrong.—Gaiman The story must strike a nerve—in me. My heart should start pounding when I hear the first line in my head. I start trembling at the risk.—Sontag Creativity is the residue of wasted time.—Einstein

04-28-2012, 02:59 AM	#5366
mayqueen practical experience, FTW Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 1,333	I sent out a whole slew of queries last week and the week before. I'm finally starting to hear back. All form rejections. That's better than not hearing anything, I guess. I have a partial and a full out. Le sigh. It gets me down, but I've gotten better about scanning the email, archiving it in my Writing folder, and going back to whatever I was doing. __________________ "I'd rather be a cyborg than a goddess." -Donna Haraway

04-28-2012, 04:17 AM	#5367
pollymilton please hold.... Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: The Northwest Posts: 605	Well. I just emailed Jenny, saying I'd been too shy to say how impressed I was by her, that she would have been my first choice, how thrilled I was to send her my MS and that she was still stellar in my book. She replied saying "Thanks! I haven't read it yet..." WOW. I am a dork. Perhaps the queen of all dorks. P. Last edited by pollymilton; 04-28-2012 at 04:47 AM.

04-27-2012, 10:02 PM	#5352
Hathor Goddess of Rationalization Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: In de Nile Posts: 1,636	Only possible if they aren't too hoary. Or haven't drunk too much Yukon Jack.

04-27-2012, 10:08 PM	#5353
pollymilton please hold.... Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: The Northwest Posts: 605	I'm totally going to write "Whorey Knights: When Chivalry was in Flower and Knights Were Sold on the Cheap"

04-27-2012, 10:44 PM	#5355
Hathor Goddess of Rationalization Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: In de Nile Posts: 1,636	I guess I'll save the elixer for myself, then. All this discussion is making me curious. But it's still a bit early to hit the hard stuff. Or maybe it's this section I'm trying to rewrite. It was too long and there's another section even worse. I'm trying to combine the two, but my brain isn't working this afternoon. I'm trying to switch from coffee back to tea and it's not going well.

04-27-2012, 10:54 PM	#5356
itsmary practical experience, FTW Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Mississippi Posts: 162	Got another form rejection a few minutes ago. I sent out 15 queries a week and a half ago and have gotten four responses. Which isn't too bad, I guess, but all of them have been form rejections. It's still early though, right?

04-27-2012, 11:06 PM	#5357
Hathor Goddess of Rationalization Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: In de Nile Posts: 1,636	Right. If you're curious, you might check out the average response times for different agents on the querytracker website. This can also give you an idea if they usually respond or ignore you if they aren't interested. As a general rule, I assume I'm not going to hear from someone after three months, because that's the longest I've waited before someone responded.

04-27-2012, 11:54 PM	#5358
Quickbread practical experience, FTW Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Somewhere between the beginning and the end Posts: 358	Itsmary, yep, it's early. In my most recent round, I sent 30 queries, and received only 11 responses, 4 of which were requests for more material. All the query rejections were forms. One of the agents I queried has an average 69-day response time on queries, according to QueryTracker. I had a seven-month response once, and it was a very apologetic full request. Hathor, it's 8 pm somewhere. And it's Friday. And it's hoary somewhere. Three good reasons to give your YJ a whirl.

04-28-2012, 12:13 AM	#5359
Hathor Goddess of Rationalization Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: In de Nile Posts: 1,636	Yes, I'm sure the stuff would improve my word choice. In too many sentences in the NF I sound...pedantic. (Yes, most of you guessed what I was going to say.) With a shot or three of YK, I suspect I'd be more colorful. Not sure if the f-bomb belongs in a work about special education, however much it really belongs there. Those, er, f-ers were hurting my baby!

04-28-2012, 01:13 AM	#5361
Carleree Queen of Catastrophes Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Between the middle of nowhere and where the hell am I? Posts: 1,718	And another Friday passes in complete silence for me

04-28-2012, 01:35 AM	#5362
Quickbread practical experience, FTW Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Somewhere between the beginning and the end Posts: 358	For me, too, Carleree. Sorry about the rejections, DJ. I hope next week brings everyone here some positive news.

04-28-2012, 01:39 AM	#5363
Carleree Queen of Catastrophes Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Between the middle of nowhere and where the hell am I? Posts: 1,718	I was sure I would get a boat load of Rs today. I sent out a batch of queries two weeks ago, and in my experience, if you're going to get a response it comes within 14 days. Too bad for me, though. I'm not sending any more out until I hear back on the subs. I'm coming up on the three month mark for two fulls. Too panicky to nudge though. I'll take the silence.

04-28-2012, 02:53 AM	#5365
pollymilton please hold.... Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: The Northwest Posts: 605	I just got some crappy non-news from the agent who was consulting on my letter (charity purchase) and then when we talked, asked to see the whole manu. She sent the letter back today with her fixes but no mention of manu. UGH. Disappointed. P.

04-28-2012, 06:40 AM	#5369
Hathor Goddess of Rationalization Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: In de Nile Posts: 1,636	polly, Try some Yukon Jack. Good for what ails ya.

04-28-2012, 07:06 AM	#5370
pollymilton please hold.... Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: The Northwest Posts: 605	Yeah, it's JB Jenny. We talked and I just lurrrve her too much that it's gonna hurt worse than a break up. But at least I was honest about my nerd girl crush. Hathor, still got all that whisky in my basement, and foolishly drank some wine just now - hubs. out of town and makes me anxious. Unfortunately, I'm allergic to wine and I now have to take benadryl.

04-28-2012, 07:42 AM	#5371
Hathor Goddess of Rationalization Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: In de Nile Posts: 1,636	Oh, hon, feel better. And stay away from things you're allergic to.

04-29-2012, 08:57 AM	#5372
pollymilton please hold.... Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: The Northwest Posts: 605	I am hanging in! Only 3 more nights to go! I honestly don't know how single moms do it, and I roped my folks in today for hiking and then they came to dinner and we watched crazy old westerns. In 1936 John Wayne was pretty darn handsome! Researching agents. This is like...studying for finals, but longer. GAhhhh.

04-29-2012, 06:10 PM	#5373
Hathor Goddess of Rationalization Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: In de Nile Posts: 1,636	Worse than finals...for them you know what the answers are supposed to be. But hang in there. There are plenty of cute cowboys, you know. I know what you mean about the kids. I spent a memorable two weeks alone with mine when they were young. My husband was in the Soviet Union, we couldn't contact each other, and I didn't know when he'd come home. (He had to bluff his way out.) Anyway, researching agents doesn't bother me as much as writing the query. If you query somebody who probably wouldn't like your book, no harm is done. But if you muff it with a bad query to someone who should like your book... Eh, you can probably tell, I'm looking at my NF query again. My book doesn't sound entertaining, but oh-so-terribly earnest. I suppose I should rewrite the query to be pithier and closer to the tone of the book. I have to rewrite the proposal too, because everything's reorganized (or getting that way). This is the project that never ends. Perhaps some agents were scared away by the 110,000 word count? It's 82,000 now and I'm still working on it. Who knows? Soon my book may be too short. Oh, Carleree, you didn't watch the third period of the Caps/Rangers game, did you? Sigh. Actually it was probably the fault of either the idiot columnist who wrote that the DC sports curse was apparently now over (Nats lost yesterday also) or my daughter. She called before the third quarter and I had to mute the game. NY scored and I said a Very Bad Word. "Mom, I've never heard you say that word before. I didn't know you cursed like that." "Uh, you didn't?" Great moments in motherhood. Well, I kept the secret for 25 years Maybe I should call up my son and lob the word at him, too.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode