Weekly update #3

New words: 2,067 (last week0+ 1079 (so far this week)
Rejections: 2, both personal

I'm fighting a cold, so I probably won't be particularly eloquent (though perhaps a teensy bit bitter) today. Sorry.

A word or two on rejections. There is a hierarchy of rejections. At the bottom, there's the slip of paper that says something generic about how the magazine/publisher didn't want/need your work (or waste a whole 4 cents on a full sheet of paper on you). Some Ed. Assistants soften the blow by writing "Thanks!" in loopy letters and signing them with purple pen.

Next up is a rejection printed on letterhead with your name and address and the title of your work included in the text. Somebody had to put those things there (though I suspect that there are computer programs that may do this). Bonus if someone signed a name in blue pen (not purple). At least you warranted five minutes of someone's time to fill in a form letter. And it's on a full sheet of paper.

Finally, as rejections go, the two I got this week were wonderful. Both of them were on the aforementioned full sheets of paper with my name spelled correctly, etc. The bonus is that each of them gave a brief critique of the work by way of explaining why they passed on it! One actually complimented my "voice" and hinted that another publisher might very well be interested (though she didn't mention any names...damn). The other suggested that I was hunting in the wrong genre (she didn't really like anything but the concept of the book). Still, good advice.

This is truly useful information!

The thing about editors/agents/publishers is that "it only takes one." That is, it only takes one person to fall in love with the book and push it through the publishing process. The editor who complimented me on my voice is getting more of my work in the future because she likes the way I write, even if she didn't like that particular book.

For more on "It only takes one," read this post by Dean Wesley Smith (search the text for "It only takes one."). Yes, I posted a link to this post a week or two ago, but it's worth reposting.
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=720

So, those are my thoughts on rejections. I'll take any win I can get, especially on a day when I don't feel well.

m

Weekly update #1

(1) Story finished, mailed to market
(1) rejection for LSCTS received.

School started this week, so I've felt slammed, so not much writing has occurred. However, the story mentioned above was completed and mailed this week, so I'm counting it, even though it was actually written in December.

I am nearly done with whatever it is I'm doing with Something. Mapping out the chapters is somewhat useful, but now I need to get them in order and fill in the blanks. I do want to finish the book by the end of the month (which, if you look in this blog's archives, is what I wanted to do with LSCTS, last year...not very successfully).

I have a friend who says he wants to trade a chapter for a poem. He likes the way I edit/critique/revise his poems, and I value his opinion on writing, so it might work out. He's not much of a genre fiction fan, though, so I have to remember that when I read his responses. :)

So, not bad for the first seven days of the month. whoopee.

m

Nano Update

16,708 words in ten days! Whoo-wee. When you say it like that, it sounds like a lot. The fact that I haven't written a word on this blog in ten days tells you a little about how intense it is to do #Nano, too.

The book has taken over by putting my MC into the hospital, where she cannot be the center of the action anymore. Her husband and veterinarian have taken that over (her vet for her mule).

I've caught the bug du jour...probably not the swine flu, since I am up and talking, but it's bad enough it really hurt my wordcount for a couple days.

Otherwise, I've recieved two story rejections in the mail. I've got to find time to put the stories back into the mail, and find one or two more publishers to send last year's nano book to.

The NanoClassMo was tonight, too, and we've had a couple people drop out because life got in the way, and a couple peole re-appear from the depths of life getting in the way. I'm so glad those people returned, and so sad about the people who've left. I think everyone is having a good experience with the writing, though, no matter what their wordcounts.

All right. I need to drag my sick carcass back to bed.
G'night.
m

Weekly update

This week, I got a novel rejection from Simon and Schuster, but whichever little intern read it, carefully folded the packet and stuffed it into my #10 SASE! Bonus. I had a glimmer of misguided hope when I held the weighty envelop in my hand, though.

I also received an email confirmation from Tin House that they had entered my (snail-mailed) story into their online submission form. It should be easier to track, I suppose.

I am mailing a fantasy story tomorrow to a fantasy magazine, though I have since realized that the story is actually the first vignette of the novel I'm going to write for NaNoWriMo. Dragons meet Outbreak meets Jurassic Park. Should be fun to write. :)

Writing-wise, I started a story about a girl and some alpacas, which wants to become My Friend Flicka with alpacas. I'm pretty sure I can sell a story to an alpaca magazine I subscribe to, but as a novel idea, it'll have to wait until after Nano.

The NaNo class begins on Tuesday! Yikes! That means I only have two weeks to commit to a novel idea (Dragons Amok is only the leading contender), and I have to finalize what I'm going to teach. I've got the first couple weeks under control, but it's the four in November that I really need to plan out before they happen. I'll be too busy to plan once NaNo start.

By the way, anyone who wants to follow me on the NaNo website, my handle is "marenster," just like it is on Twitter.

That's all for now!
m

Mailings, Rejections, Death

So, since my birthday, I've mailed two more stories and gotten a rejection for the novel. I turned around and mailed it to another publisher.

However, one of the editors I sent the novel to on 9/25 DIED on 9/27!

I didn't think my writing was that bad. Maybe her inoperable uterine cancer had something to do with it.

That's just rotten luck. For her. I'm just happy my proposal is sitting in her now-defunct slush pile while I live and breathe and write more. Cancer is just a bummer all around.

m