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- Jul 28, 2009
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We all know about writing being a series of experiences, all of which make you better at your craft, right? Each step is a stage in your development-- writing, querying, rejections, partial requests, full requests, R & Rs, and (hopefully) publication.
I'd gotten to the sending queries stage, and plenty of rejections. I was published through Musa for my first, but for my next book, I had higher hopes. This work has now been through 21 rewrites.
But I've been querying it for close to two years now. Each series of queries that I sent out and got nothing but rejections, I'd tweak a little more. I'd had four full requests, but they'd amount to nothing. Even the agent from the conference whom I developed a nice rapport with didn't even have the courtesy to respond to my nudge after four months.
I hadn't been able to figure out what needed addressing most since I couldn't get any feedback. I'd begun adding small publishers to the equation. One accepted me, but the contract terms were so bad that a friend of a friend who's an agent told me she wouldn't accept. So I didn't.
Well, back in October, I sent to an agency in the UK, not expecting much, and they asked for a partial. Yay. I sent it in, still not expecting anything.
About a week ago, the assistant wrote back and asked for a full. Cool! But I still wasn't expecting much. So I sent it in.
Yesterday morning, I had the rejection email, but it was SO encouraging! He really thinks I have the raw talent and likes my prose style. Yay! So he gave me several suggestions (which I'm completely onboard with-- I'd actually made edits before based on others' thoughts that were the exact opposite from what he wanted, so I should be able to add them back in and flesh out the material a bit more).
I really needed this little shot in the arm. I've been at a particularly low ebb lately-- massive overtime at work had also killed my creativity, although that seems to be subsiding a bit now.
It could still get upstairs to the agent and get rejected, but I am so happy right now. It's like a little validation, you know?
I'd gotten to the sending queries stage, and plenty of rejections. I was published through Musa for my first, but for my next book, I had higher hopes. This work has now been through 21 rewrites.
But I've been querying it for close to two years now. Each series of queries that I sent out and got nothing but rejections, I'd tweak a little more. I'd had four full requests, but they'd amount to nothing. Even the agent from the conference whom I developed a nice rapport with didn't even have the courtesy to respond to my nudge after four months.
I hadn't been able to figure out what needed addressing most since I couldn't get any feedback. I'd begun adding small publishers to the equation. One accepted me, but the contract terms were so bad that a friend of a friend who's an agent told me she wouldn't accept. So I didn't.
Well, back in October, I sent to an agency in the UK, not expecting much, and they asked for a partial. Yay. I sent it in, still not expecting anything.
About a week ago, the assistant wrote back and asked for a full. Cool! But I still wasn't expecting much. So I sent it in.
Yesterday morning, I had the rejection email, but it was SO encouraging! He really thinks I have the raw talent and likes my prose style. Yay! So he gave me several suggestions (which I'm completely onboard with-- I'd actually made edits before based on others' thoughts that were the exact opposite from what he wanted, so I should be able to add them back in and flesh out the material a bit more).
I really needed this little shot in the arm. I've been at a particularly low ebb lately-- massive overtime at work had also killed my creativity, although that seems to be subsiding a bit now.
It could still get upstairs to the agent and get rejected, but I am so happy right now. It's like a little validation, you know?
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