Had my first rejection. Ouch!

Pastelnudes

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Well, I can't say I enjoyed that experience :poke:
 
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Kat M

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:Hug2:
Can't say that would be an enjoyable experience.
 

Pastelnudes

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Thank you, both :Hug2:

I'm not going to over-react. :Hammer: :guns: :mob
 
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RaggyCat

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Sorry, Pastelnudes! Rs suck. At least they got back to you quickly!*

*I assume they did as I know last week you where query and opening chapters shopping. If it was a UK agent for YA, I know some pretty much auto reject atm.
 

Pastelnudes

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Thanks, Raggycat.

It took several months, actually! But that's alright. And it was with the original submission.

Why I did not join AW sooner, I do not know :Hug2:
 

Pastelnudes

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I have been known to have a good, long cry in the car. Handle it however you need to.

And then go forth and query again. :)

:Hug2:

Yeah. If it's not hurting, it's not working.

Wait. That was Margaret Thatcher :rant:
 

Pastelnudes

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Ah, that's a nice way of looking at it :Hug2:

Come on, puppy!
 

Woollybear

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Sorry to hear about the rejection, Pastelnudes.

If you are happier with your project where it is now, then that gives you a calibration of sorts. :) At least I felt that way. Now, I wouldn't query as soon as I did last time, even though I forced myself to polish-polish-polish before querying I think I still jumped the gun in the end.

I always found a teeny bit of comfort that by the time the R came in, my project was more polished than it had been. I hope you have some comfort there too.
 
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Pastelnudes

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Thanks, Patty. Yes, that's true. I can see that the opening chapters - and key elements of the story - were far too complicated. And I'm working hard on the tone. They found the tone hard to place, both age and genre-wise (ie were reminded of MG like Lemony Snicket, or YA fantasy novels like Miss Peregrine or adult novels like A Little Life).

To be fair, I did mention two of those books in my query letter.
 
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