I received my first rejection e-mail for Lost Days, a novel I'm trying to get published. I am quite proud of myself. Not once tonight did I burst into tears of frustrated despondency. I came close during my second break but I think that might have more to do with the fact that my supervisor put me on a three card poker table, my least favorite game to deal.
Okay. Perhaps the rejection got to me a little more than I'm willing to admit. I put a lot of time and effort into that manuscript. I wrote the first draft in only a month, but the revisions that followed were endless. I started that thing in November for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer's Month) and finished a little less than a month ago. Yes, it's probably crap, but does not the mother still bare love for the child sprung from her loins even though said child has the face of a mutated baboon? Does not the foolish gambler put his money down time and time again until he no longer has money to pay the light bill even though he knows in his heart of hearts the house always wins? And why does he do it? Because he loves the game, that's why! The game may not especially love him, but damn it, one day his ship will come in!
It's with this gambler's mentality that I set sail on yet another doomed voyage that will ultimately sink before it makes it back to shore...I guess you can see from my sailing metaphors why my manuscript didn't make it. I'm writing the next book in the series. While I do that, I will also be going over my first novel to see where I went wrong. Maybe I was just too eager and it can be saved with...sigh...a little more revision. Maybe it's a baboon faced hell spawn with no hope of redemption. We'll just have to see.
In the meantime, I've decided to post my rejection e-mail for your entertainment. Maybe I'll print it up and set the thing on fire. Picture it: A distraught Karma Girl with a half empty bottle of apple flavored schnapps in one hand and a burning rejection slip in the other. I'll wave it like a flag signaling my maddening decent while wailing bitterly that no one understands my work. I'll threaten to slice an artery to show them how committed (ha ha) I am to the art! And as I stand there bleeding with rivers of black mascara trickling down my pale cheeks, I'll remember that I don't own a fire extinguisher and burn my apartment down, thereby making me a homeless as well as starving artist...
But no, I'm not bitter or anything (shakes head emphatically)...oh no, not me.
May 30, 2008
Dear {name deleated...thinking of using this as a pen name..hmmm):
Thank you so much for sending the Nelson Agency sample pages of LOST DAYS.
After a careful reading, we are sorry to say that we don't believe this project is right for our agency.
Because this business is so subjective and opinions vary widely, we recommend that you pursue other agents. After all, it just takes one "yes" to find the right match.
Good luck with all your publishing endeavors.
Sincerely,
Kristin Nelson
Sara Megibow
Okay. Perhaps the rejection got to me a little more than I'm willing to admit. I put a lot of time and effort into that manuscript. I wrote the first draft in only a month, but the revisions that followed were endless. I started that thing in November for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer's Month) and finished a little less than a month ago. Yes, it's probably crap, but does not the mother still bare love for the child sprung from her loins even though said child has the face of a mutated baboon? Does not the foolish gambler put his money down time and time again until he no longer has money to pay the light bill even though he knows in his heart of hearts the house always wins? And why does he do it? Because he loves the game, that's why! The game may not especially love him, but damn it, one day his ship will come in!
It's with this gambler's mentality that I set sail on yet another doomed voyage that will ultimately sink before it makes it back to shore...I guess you can see from my sailing metaphors why my manuscript didn't make it. I'm writing the next book in the series. While I do that, I will also be going over my first novel to see where I went wrong. Maybe I was just too eager and it can be saved with...sigh...a little more revision. Maybe it's a baboon faced hell spawn with no hope of redemption. We'll just have to see.
In the meantime, I've decided to post my rejection e-mail for your entertainment. Maybe I'll print it up and set the thing on fire. Picture it: A distraught Karma Girl with a half empty bottle of apple flavored schnapps in one hand and a burning rejection slip in the other. I'll wave it like a flag signaling my maddening decent while wailing bitterly that no one understands my work. I'll threaten to slice an artery to show them how committed (ha ha) I am to the art! And as I stand there bleeding with rivers of black mascara trickling down my pale cheeks, I'll remember that I don't own a fire extinguisher and burn my apartment down, thereby making me a homeless as well as starving artist...
But no, I'm not bitter or anything (shakes head emphatically)...oh no, not me.
May 30, 2008
Dear {name deleated...thinking of using this as a pen name..hmmm):
Thank you so much for sending the Nelson Agency sample pages of LOST DAYS.
After a careful reading, we are sorry to say that we don't believe this project is right for our agency.
Because this business is so subjective and opinions vary widely, we recommend that you pursue other agents. After all, it just takes one "yes" to find the right match.
Good luck with all your publishing endeavors.
Sincerely,
Kristin Nelson
Sara Megibow
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