Yes, I have yet another letter (e-mail to be specific) added to my Rejection folder.   The frantically fast agent I had submitted to twice now has officially rejected me twice now. 

And that door, while not slammed, was closed firmly. 

What do I mean?  She was very nice and very professional and offered a bit of constructive criticism - but made it clear she didn't connect with my voice (style of writing, as a quick explanation) by not offering to look at the piece again if I changed it per her suggestion. 

I certainly don't want you to think I fault her one bit for not offering to review the proposal again.  She is, I'm sure, bombarded with e-mails.  Agents and editors get hundreds of queries per week.  If they take the time to send you a personalized e-mail or letter, that is gold and should be considered a "positive" or "good" rejection.  And I do view it as such, to be sure.  That's why I sent her a thank you e-mail.

Let me explain, if you don't quite understand.  Part of being an author is learning to not only writer well and infer things in our writing, but we really need to learn to READ BETWEEN THE LINES!  We have to figure out the subtle language of the publishing industry (which, granted, isn't always subtle but sometimes brutally clear!).  If she had made a connection with my voice and felt more confident in my writing, she might have made the suggestion and asked me to re-submit after I had made the change.  Since she didn't, I surmised she wasn't interested enough. 

Publishing is tough and getting tougher.  There are fewer houses (publishing houses/companies) and the costs keep going up to produce books.  Bookstores are disappearing.  The really hard part of being a writer is understanding the business side of the industry.  Learning to understand agent/editor speak is part of that job.  This agent wasn't enthused about me and my work.  I don't want an agent who is wishy-washy about me.  I want an agent who loves my voice and will convey that excitement to editors.
 
So, I have tweaked my work a bit and am preparing to send it out to more agents in the coming days. 

I'll be sure to let you know what happens.  And Happy Ground Hogs Day.

Sorry to be off the radar for so long.  Things got a smidge busy, ya know?

So, Merry Ho-Ho and a Happy New Year and all that cheerful stuff.  Santa was good to me, despite the crappy economy.  Hope he (or whomever or whatever) did the same for you.  Personally, I think my dogs got more goodies than anyone in the city combined but that's only partially my fault.

All right.  That agent I was telling you about?  Speedy Gonzales?  Well, she did indeed get back to me in two weeks with or without that pesky food gorging holiday being stuck in there.  Of course it was a rejection, but it was personal, she was very nice and it was dang fast.  Sigh.

Having gone through this before (ahem, perhaps more than once), I was prepared - sort of.  I whined for a few minutes then popped her back an e-mail asking if, since that historical didn't pop her cork, she'd be willing to look at one of my contemporaries. 

Zap - next day (a Saturday, even!) she sent me the green light to submit again.  Are you taking notes?  If you have a toe in the door, you should be ready to wiggle another one in there.  Yes, you risk having the door slammed and loosing a couple digits versus one but you also build on the opportunity to have a whole appendage wedged in there.  (Why do my feet suddenly hurt?)

I been told by many publishing savvy professionals  that the best thing you can do for yourself when you start submitting is to have something else ready to send out if you get a "that's nice but not for me" type rejection.  So, that's exactly what I did. 

First, I realized that the strongest piece I had to offer was not yet finished.  Normally a BIG NO-NO to submit a work not finished and previously I would not have even considered it.  But since I had the advantage of knowing I could complete a manuscript in a relatively short period of time, and had done so numerous times, I decided to contemplate it.  Next, I contacted one of her published clients and asked for her thoughts.  Did she think her agent would be potentially receptive or was this a total shut-down issue to her?  Each agent and editor operates differently.  Some refuse to even waste a moment on an incomplete work (fiction, that is - non-fiction can sell based solely upon a proposal or premise)  while I personally know of a few new fiction authors who sold based on a partial work.  Once you are established in fiction, have shown editors you produce by deadline, can handle copy edits in a timely fashion and without too much foot stomping, and can complete more than the one-book-of-your-heart type thing, then the field opens a bit and you can sell on premise - sometimes.

I then also contacted several experienced writer friends to ask their thoughts and received some well thought out advice to go for it since the premise was the most marketable piece I currently had.  And after they did a critique of the proposal (synopsis and first three chapters), they concurred that it was a commercially viable product and very polished.

Whew!

So, after waiting for several days, I sent the proposal off to her.  And it's now been two weeks but that includes the little jingle-bell holiday and since tomorrow is New Year's Eve, I'm really not expecting to hear anything back until mid-January, if that soon.  The woman deserves a break - not to mention the entire publishing industry pretty much shuts down for the Holidays.

Have a cup of grog (whatever that is - I just hope there's alcohol in it with that name), burn a yule tide log if you got a humongous fireplace (think Windsor Palace), set off some fireworks and have a Happy New Year. 

Cheers!

First, Happy Turkey Day!  I hope that those who celebrate this holiday are enjoying themselves, not spending time in the emergency room because they popped a still frozen turkey in the ol' deep fryer vat and it exploded.  It's a day to be thankful, after all, not a day to end up in jail because you got really drunk watching the football game and then picked a fight with Uncle Billy over the ref's call. 

I'm just sayin' - be thankful and mellow.

So, I've decided to drag you along on my journey to get published.  I'd pushed it aside for some time (after a computer crash made me loose over seven manuscripts and so I did some intense pouting - okay, yes, there were other reasons too) and decided it really is the time for me to get back to it.  Also, the Capt. has been after me to GET WITH IT! 

I'm currently working on a manuscript that is a contemporary romantic suspense.  Since it will be at least several months before it's ready to make the rounds, I decided to haul out an old favorite to test the waters with again.  It's the third ms I completed, a historical romance, with characters not only I love but also others say they love.

Part of the reason I was spurred on to get this out there was that several people I know just got multiple historical book deals and both have the same agent.

First, let me explain that publishing is cyclical.  When I originally shopped this around, the market was saturated with historicals and the hot new trends were contemporaries and specifically chit-lit.  Now, historicals are once again finding favor with publishers and fans, it would seem. 

Having heard about two chapter-mates getting deals with this same agent, I decided to check her and her agency out.  I researched her author list (looking at all, not just romance), recent book deals, current genres & sub-genres they are interested in and memberships to organizations.  I got it all off her website and then followed that up by checking other organizations to be sure she and her agency were indeed members in good standing.  They were.  I also googled her name and found positive comments about her on message boards.  While I knew she had years of experience, I learned that she was actively seeking authors since the agency was only a few years old. 

Now that I had all this information, I decided to really work hard at my query and I sent it off exactly in the manner she had requested, which was again posted on her website. 

I've submitted to agents before and had done a few just recently only to not hear anything back.  That's quite common.  Agents and editors get hundreds of queries a month.  When I very first started writing, I sent a query and partial (first three chapters) to an editor.  FOUR YEARS LATER,  I got the rejection!  I laughed pretty hard about that.  The editor I had sent it to originally was no longer working for that publisher and someone else got stuck going through her slush pile in addition to their own.  I didn't blame them for rejecting it - it was not nearly as polished as it should have been.  But four years later?  They should have just tossed it and saved themselves the additional postage and, I would think, the embarrassment!

Anyway, I am no stranger to the painfully long wait you get once you submit something.  It can takes months and months to hear back, if you ever do.  So imagine my complete shock when I checked my e-mail and received a request to submit a partial - THE VERY NEXT DAY!  I have never heard of an agent being that fast before, ever.  And she apologized that it may then take her a whole two weeks to get back to me on the three chapters.  Seriously?!?!?  No apologies needed!

That's where it stands right now.  Of course, I will try not to freak out too bad if it takes her a little longer, what with Thanksgiving and all.

I will try but that's the best I can promise. 

Oh, and happy Thankgsgiving again.  You know at least one thing I'm thankful for this year!

It's not just a national holiday - it's a president-declared national holiday.  Yes, today is National Chicken Lady Day.  Did you even know there was an official Chicken Lady for the United States?  And no, she's not that weird woman who hangs out in the woods with her 100+ chickens and has names for them all and knits them scarves.  She's a very well respected community advocate and speaker.  Really, she's an amazing woman.  I don't know if she knits. 

So, today I'm going to work on my latest manuscript.  I think I've finally honed my synopsis enough (i.e; I've dinked around with it enough and need to get back to working in the actual story).  Since I'm struggling to decide on the next scene, I think I'll throw in another dead body and see where that takes me.  Bodies have a way of getting the living moving, I've found. 
 
Of course, I do have to work in another love scene soon.  Hmm . . . which should be first?

It would help if I had some CPs to bounce things off of.  CPs (critique partners) are invaluable to writers.  Writing is such a solitary pursuit - it's just you and your imagination.  And CPs are so much more than just readers.  They are usually writers themselves and so know what to focus on.  They understand what showing vs telling is and about pacing.  It can really help to have people (real people) give you feedback on what's working in a scene or how believable a characters actions are.  They can be great sounding boards for ideas and wonderful moral boosters when you get a rejection.  

Sigh.  I really need to get back to work so I can get more of those rejections.

Dead body and then love scene?  That works.  Now I just have to figure out who to kill next.

Remember, it's all just in my head.

    

  

Happy National Chocolates Day!  Click on the link to learn about it and how chocolate has been around for more than two millennia!  Wow, huh?  Thank you, Mayans!

Today is also my sister-in-law's birthday.  At least, I think she's my s-i-l.  Actually, I'm not sure I still have in-laws.  I mean, I didn't divorce her brother or their son.  I didn't choose to leave that family.  It's wasn't my fault (well, to be fair, it wasn't his either - he died). 

I've been confused about this for years.  Do I still have in-laws?  Am I in-lawless?  And if I do still have them, what if I were to remarry?  Would I then have two sets of in-laws?  Is that even legal?  Would I be in trouble for being poly-in-law-gamous? 

Webster's simply states it's "a relative by marriage". 

WorldWeb simply says it's "a relative by marriage".

Wikipedia simply says "In-Laws is a American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 2002 until January 2003".

I'm still confused.  

                              

So, today is Cranky Co-Workers Day.  Come on - do those whiners really need their own day?  Aren't they a pain enough to deal with?  Yes, yes, it's true I personally have no current co-workers (unless you count the snotty characters who aren't talking to me much right now).  Still I have certainly had them.  I'm sure you all have too. 

There are the hypochondriacs who will always be sicker than you even if you're bleeding from your ears.  The ones who tell you to stop being happy about your new boyfriend - he'll just cheat on you with your best friend in a month, anyway.  The ones who complain because your kids aren't in therapy (just wait, they tell you, the brats will be some day!).  Those who grouse about the fact the boss smiles at you and wonders out loud just what you did to make said boss so happy.  There are some who snarl when the cute delivery guy compliments your attire and claims it's only because you wear blouses so low cut that they show off your collar bones.  Even a few who cannot stand the one picture of your puppy pinned up at your cubicle ("is all that clutter really necessary?").

Sure we all have crappy days but some people are just crappy.  Nothing seems to make them happy unless it's complaining.

Maybe they just need a really good shag.   Okay, probably not gonna happen, huh?

How about a killer pair of red suede pumps?

Curious - did you know that today was Mother-In-Law Day?  And strangely also Sourest Day?  Coincidence?  I think not. 

I had a mother-in-law once.  Fine, she wasn't so bad (of course she lived several states away and I only saw her  every few years, which might have helped). 

Still, I'm just sayin' - Mother-In-Law Day happens to also be Sourest Day?  Hmm . . .

Today, dear reader(s), is National Mole Day.  Yep, you heard me right.  A person was named as the Mole of the Year.  They have t-shirts and a theme song - yes, a theme song.  But it's not at all what you think.  It is not a day to celebrate those little rodents who tunnel through farmers fields and worse yet, your own lovely lawn.  Nope.  There may be a day to extol some virtue that escapes me for the beady eyed mammals but it's not today.  Today, it's all about science.  As in molecule.  Get it?  It's celebrated from 6:02 AM until 6:02 PM and commemorates something called Avogadro's Number, which is apparently a basic measuring unit in chemistry.  
 
Whatever. 

I worked last night on my synopsis for my current WIP (work in progress).  Writers typically hate writing synopsis.  The reason is that we spend hours, days, weeks, months and sometimes even years writing thousands of words to tell a story.  And some bozo decided once upon a time we have to then condense the characters journey, their growth, the main plot, the subplots, the scenery, secondary characters, and the highs and lows of the whole bloody thing down to a couple pages.  Are you kidding me?!?!?  Argh!!! 

Yes, it's true.  We must do this and do it incredibly well if we have any hope of gaining an editor or agents interest to see the actual manuscript.  It may not be fair and it's certainly not fun, but it is a necessary evil.  Really, it's a sales tool.  I used to struggle with it a lot more than I do now.  I used to try to write the thing when the whole ms was completed.  I now find it much easier to write it earlier and most often have it pretty much done by the time I'm half way through the story.  It helps to keep me grounded and on track (I'm primarily a pantser - someone who "writes by the seat of her pants", not taking time to make detailed plots).  For me, when the plot is still a vague outline, it's much easier to note the main points and not try to tell the reader each and every highlight of the story.

Today I printed it out and have edited the crap out of it already. Funny, it seemed so brilliant last night at 2:00 AM. 

What I really want to know is - what the heck is the mole-dude holding in his creepy little paw?


 

Did you ever even contemplate there would be an International Caps Lock Day?  It's today, so start  mulling it over.  While the link takes you to an explanation of the keyboard key and functions of cap lock, there are also websites for it.  The first two Google brought up made me a tad nervous so I thought better than to link you to them.  I only spent a moment looking at them, true, but there seemed to be lots of anger there.  And while I am certainly no stranger to profanity (ahem - I suffer from severe bouts of verbal road rage at times when driving), some of the content I found in questionable taste.   So, Google if I've made you curious but be warned that one site mentions hacking also.  Merely alluding to hacking if enough to freak me out.

I did find an article by a reporter for the Examiner on caps lock and his distaste for the poor little button.  Personally, I like caps lock.  I actually hand write in all caps.  My cursive is atrocious, at best.  My r's look like n's and my n's look like m's and no one yet has been able to figure out what my m's actually are.  I slant either way indiscriminately, which I thought would give my third grade teacher an aneurysm.  When attempting to read my handwriting, people squint and frown and stammer.  Since I don't want anyone blaming me for their Botox injection failing due to my scribblings, I just said no to cursive and print everything in caps.  Makes my life so much easier.  I never wanted to be a doctor, after all. 

Did you know it was Viggo Mortensen's 51st Birthday today?  Well, it is.

And did you know that in 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase today?  They did and now you know.  I have no clue exactly what that entails, but we now have the knowledge that it happened on this day in history.  Maybe I'll Wiki it later.

I haven't been one to read or follow blogs until about a month ago.  And I don't follow many, I admit.  That's probably why I'm still stumbling around here.  I do try to remember to visit some, now and then.  Some are fun and some informative - a few are even both! 

Author blogs run the gamut on all aspects.  Some of them blog once a year, some several times a day, some only when they have a reason to promote themselves and/or a new book (always a good reason, in my opinion).  There are some who often blog about their personal lives and those that never do.  And yes (gasp), there are even authors out there with no blog at all! 

As I already said, I'm still goofing around with this whole notion.  Obviously.

All right, if you're still with me, here are a few blogs that I have found most interesting relating to authors and writing and the publishing industry.   

Nathan Bransford, Literary Agent

Romancing The Blog

BookEnds, LLC - A Literary Agency

Running With Quills

Pimp My Novel


Check them out. 

I'm going to be productive and write. 

But,  wait.  What's Eric at Pimp My Novel blogging about today?  I'll just check that first . . .