The Daily Rejection, Vol. 2

Thanks RaggyCat and Torill!!! We'll see how it goes...

utesfanami, best of luck!!!!!!!!!! So happy for you!!!!!

Wow! So AW is working a lot faster for me and I don't have to lurk as much lol

1 - lots of congratseses and good lucks to everybody! I think I messaged everybody but if i missed anyone, CHEERS!!!! also hugs for Rs

2 - i'm in and out of a productive mood with all that's going on in the world and in publishing and in my silent house haha. Anybody who's taking a break, I hope its a restful one because 2020 is...a lot.

3 - i have an offer! i'm in that weird waiting period, but I'm glad that there's an end in sight for the trenches. I'm iffy about the agency, but I think I just gotta get through all this waiting first before I really sit down and think about that lol

Congrats, utesfanami! Congrats, S. Eli! And good luck with the full request, mistri!

Wow, so much good news here, I love it!

Oooooh well done, S. Eli! CONGRATS! I'm so thrilled that you have an offer! Fantastic.

What are your concerns about the agency - anything we can help with? I'm guessing you've poked other agents who have the full, so you may also get other offers.

Congrats again! It's so nice to see such a lot of good news on this thread!

Great news, S. Eli! Congratulations [insert emoji train here]! I was also ambivalent about my offering agency, but I'm happy with my choice a month later. Anyone who makes an offer in this environment must be enthusiastic about your work.

WOOT S. Eli!!!!!!!!! Congratulations!!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS S.Eli!!!!

utesfanami and S. Eli:

And for Liz and mistri!

Sadly no good news for me. I got a form rejection on a full that had been out for 5.5 months. I now have no outstanding requests for that MS. Requests have been 3/44. It's not looking good. (Technically 3/39, with 5 outstanding, but those 5 are all >3 weeks old and just limping along towards their CNR dates.) Not sure what to do with this one. Not sure if I can bear to read it again and edit it. Maybe I will, though.

As far as writing, I'm still making no progress. Perhaps this weekend I can summon up some inspiration and put out a scene or two. Better than nothing! Or maybe work on a short story. I'm afraid that if I go much longer without writing I'll just never write again (long decades of personal experience to the contrary).

yay S. Eli!

So, I finally finished the synopsis. Oof; I haven't worked like that on a document since college, I don't think. It's more like three days than two, and it's way too long. But it's what I've got, and it's just going to have to do. I'm fairly sure it's at least semi-coherent.

Not that I should be allowed to judge. I discovered in the process that I misspelled one of my characters' names in the query. Yes, the one I've been using for months, that I've read over about a hundred times. And I only typed that name about a thousand times, writing the novel.

Torill, can I have my chair back now?


hester, cheers on the new project!

utesfanami - Woot, that's the way to do it! Good luck!

Torill - Go you on the revisions. I'm missing my coffee shops, too; I didn't usually write there, but a double mocha is one of my key productivity tools.

S. Eli - Woohoo! I'll second Raggy; anything we can help with about the agency?

noranne - Have a big ol' plate of R cookies. And sympathies on the writing stall-out. It's so hard to get started again. But you can do it!

Thank you so much everyone! The agency is really new (their thread below) with not much of a record. One great sale I've heard of and know of without having to look it up. Also, the offering agent is new at the new agency lol. I've got some good editors who have requested from me, so I'm not as nervous about never selling my book (which, ofc, as a writer, I'm nervous about haha) as I am shooting myself in the foot early on in my career.

I have 14 agents who haven't responded yet, but you never forget your first offer lol

https://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?340985-Agency-Ladderbird&highlight=ladderbird

Noranne - sorry about the rejection Maybe it would be worth reviewing your submission package. I did this halfway through my submission process and it made a big difference.

Liz_V - congrats on finishing your synopsis. You don't need your chair yet, first you need to send that off!

S.Eli - do you think maybe it would help for you to speak to one of their authors and get their feeling about the agency and their experience with them so far?


Otherwise I had a short story published today. This is one of my not so dark stories and maybe the closest I will ever get to a happy ending (using the term loosely). If anybody fancy a read: https://twistintimemag.com/every-scar-has-a-story-by-laure-van-rensburg/

The story is lovely, Elle! Your prose feels like a gorgeous tightly woven tapestry, and the central idea reminds me of that Leslie Jamison essay about women and pain.

Well done on the short story, Elle! I will give it a read.

S.Eli - I understand you being a little nervous about a new agency, and a new agent. It's always reassuring when you have lots of sales data. However, all agencies start somewhere, so it is a bit of a leap of faith. My first agent was new when I signed with her (she had only sold one client's work) but she has since built a list with talented authors and good deals. And one great sale is reassuring. I guess the thing is to see how you gel when you chat, and if any of the other agents you have work out with express interest you'll have a comparison. Good luck!

S. Eli - Hmm, yeah, definitely not much of a track record for that agency. Any feel for the agent's experience before they joined? I like Elle's suggestion of talking to some of their clients.

Elle - Congrats on the story!

Oh, I sent that sucker off as soon as I finished it. Well, the next morning, after I proofread it three more times and shoved it in front of the housemate as soon as she was conscious.

I promised myself a day off after that, but then I got all ambitious and submitted a short story, too. It's like I'm trying to get published or something.

I wrote a scene yesterday! Planning to write another today (we'll see). Also wrote out a schedule for the week, including a nice hour of writing time before I start working. That definitely seems aspirational, but can't hurt to try!

Elle. said:

Noranne - sorry about the rejection Maybe it would be worth reviewing your submission package. I did this halfway through my submission process and it made a big difference.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I did this a while back and it led to a small uptick in responses but that has since disappeared, and I just don't know if I have me in me to do it again. I'll probably try to take a look when I'm feeling less grouchy.

Congrats on the short!!

Elle, just read your short story--beautiful, thought-provoking work!!!!! . Congratulations!!!

Liz_V, congrats on your submissions!!!!!!! Sending victory vibes your way!!!!

noranne, yay for wordage!!!!!!

I hit 10,000 words on my WIP (appropriately named "Nano spring project" ). Hoping to keep the momentum going into the work week (currently I'm working for home, so there's more of a chance to get stuff done).

Hope everyone is staying safe and well!!!

SEli, Congratulations!!!!!

(keeping this short and hoping it goes through, been having a lot of trouble here these past weeks, the internet in my building is overwhelmed)

Thanks, y'all! I'll def talk to some of their clients (there's another long story attacked to that, but not a HUGE red flag lol). The agent themselves said they have been in publishing for a while before they started agenting in August last year. I literally can only take their word for it lol, because of the newness. Like I said, I'm semi-fine with it, but I waffle sometimes.Once again, thank you so much for your help!

noranne - Yay scene!

hester - 10K? Woot!

all -

In local news, I... started my taxes?

Well I got a rejection on that 230+ day full I had out - she'd forgotten to reply to me/thought she had but then realised she hadn't. I kind of assumed that, but it was still disappointing. The one I'm really anxious about has only been 96 days, so too early to nudge I think. Then the other four are 238, 163, 118 and 70, but I did nudge the 238 one twice already. I might just mark it CNR to get it off my mind and it'll be a surprise either way if I end up getting a response

It looks like there's a lot of good news in this thread though which is nice to see! Congrats to everyone with offers/acceptances! And cakes to everyone dealing with rejections or no responses. I'm starting to get back into writing - I lost my motivation/energy a lot during the first few weeks of lockdown so it's comforting to find that it's coming back. I definitely won't be ready for DVPit this year - I was very optimistic in January I think!

aceafer - Do we give stale R cookies for a 230+ rejection? Just kidding - sympathies! And cheers on getting the writing mojo back.

Did my state taxes today. Need to run through tomorrow and double-check the math (my state insists on a *lot* of time recalculating the same things, in case OMG you might slip a whole extra dollar through somewhere otherwise!), then that'll be a thing that is done.

And then on to the next thing.

it, I'd just gotten myself all positived-up on fun videos and stories of people being nice to each other -- and got an R on the short story. With an invite to submit another, which is swell, but I think I may be out of things to try on this market.

Well, poo. (As I say in my highly sophisticated and mature personal lingo.)

R cookies to Liz_V and aceafar!

aceafar, you've got a ton of full requests out though, that's very cool to see! Are you still submitting new queries, or are you waiting for those responses?

Liz_V - I'll take the stale ones, they feel appropriate! Some non-stale cookies for you on the R - although them asking you to submit again is a really good sign! Good luck!

rocoroca - just waiting for these responses now - I think I've queried every agent that I'd want to be represented by at this point, so it's time to move onto the next MS really. There's one I did have my hopes up about because she seemed very interested when I met her in person at a con, but it has been three months so the excitement is sort of dying down!