My BABY!!! Camino Rejection, Camino Hopeful.

Wasn't sure where to post this. I'm just all a puddle of mess at the moment.

The hardest thing isn't writing the novel, or editing the novel, or writing the synopsis, or writing the query letter, or submitting to your agent, or signing the contract with your agent, or realizing your agent has placed your full with 8 top publishers. It's what happens AFTER all this.

In the fall my agent approached me and asked if I had anything ready because a certain publisher was asking her if she had anything he could see. I described 3 of my WIPs to her and said, "I can have one of them done in a week or so and then we can go over it together and polish and edit and have it submission ready in a couple of weeks." So she said, "Okay...I love the sound of this one."

So I went to the cottage and wrote for 24-48-72 hours, or whatever. I went from having 6 chapters completed and polished to having a full novel...in just over a week-ish. And I was so happy she asked for this one, because it was the novel of my heart. I started it in 2014 after completing the pilgrimage of Camino de Santiago. Breakfast Club meets the Camino de Santiago. The elevator pitch line alone is what sold my agent on the idea. SO....boom. Novel, ready. Then we took about a month to get it just right because she really loved it but wanted as close to perfect as she could get.

So she submitted it as a full, after requests, to 8 publishers.

WELL-----this week, we heard back from the first DECLINERS. THIS IS THE HARD PART. This novel is my everything. This is the one for me. And I have had 2 rejections this week. What a way to celebrate a Monday with two rejections in the morning. Before coffee. Anyway...long story short------TOO LATE. I'm here, rejected...just asking for one of these publishers to love my Camino novel as much as my agent and I love it. I could use a Kumbaya or seven!

Kevin, rejected but hopeful.

AW Admin said:

I'm over here cheering for you and hoping for good news. 8 fulls is no small thing.

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Thanks so much. Usually I'm so cool calm and collected about these things. The emotional attachment in this particular manuscript has ratcheted my worries and fears and hopes, etc. (-:

Thanks so much, everyone. I'm a couple days away from that sting...and fingers crossed for the other fulls out there. I only need one yes. Thanks all! (-:

RaggedEdge said:

Kevin, first of all, congratulations on writing the story of your heart. That takes massive courage, and it sounds like you found the magical mojo to write it so swiftly. Serious kudos to you!

Second, wishing you that one YES (or several!). Sounds like a great premise!

Speaking of novels from the heart, I'll soon be ready to start drafting my next work and I am really drawn to one idea in particular and it, too, is the story of my heart. I wasn't ready before, but it's been slowly coming together in my heart and head for a couple of years now, and I feel ready now. I'm just trying to work up the courage to put together a pitch for my agent. It has the potential to be really tricky to write, and off-putting, and controversial, so she's likely to either love the idea or hate it. Sigh. I do have other ideas I could explore instead, but I kind of feel like if I don't write this now and go in another direction, I won't come back to it.

Anyway, I'm with you in spirit and totally rooting for your baby to make it!

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Thank you! And good luck with your own heart book. They are fierce and they make us vulnerable...and they come when we're ready. BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!

Thanks, all! We've made it to Friday without any further notifications! (-: I'm busy on my next project trying not to think of the eyes on my manuscript. (-: Thanks!