The Daily Rejection

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ap123

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Woke up to a nearly empty email box this morning. What's up with that? Good Friday have something to do with it? Never seen this before on a Friday.

tri

I've resigned myself to the likelihood that it isn't even worth checking my inbox before Monday. ;)

I got my second rejection today!
From an agent I don't even have record of sending to XD I must be sending these things out in my sleep or something.

Congrats! Sort of ;)
 

WendyN

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tri - Yup, bet a lot of people are taking a long weekend for the holiday.

ohheyyrach77 - What's the new novel about?

HH - Don't know for sure, but since everyone makes a big deal out of having a platform for NF, I think I'd err on the side of including *too* much rather than not enough.

krash - Well, 'amateurish' is better than 'jerkish' or 'creeperish.' They've probably seen a lot worse than whatever it was.

CCC - I met a couple people writing memoirs at the writers' conference I went to last month, and they seemed to feel the same way. I think it's different when you're writing about yourself and your own experiences b/c it's so much more personal -- they're not just rejecting your characters or plot, they're rejecting YOU.


And... I thought for sure I posted yesterday morning when I read through the thread, but apparently not? RaggedEdge, if you're still looking for eyes on your queries you can send it over. DragonShark, yes, I would make mention of the error & good luck on the upcoming move. ohheyyrach77, welcome. Hi to everyone else. (I'm sure I wrote all that much more eloquently yesterday)
 

Antonin

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I think my cold is over! *does tired dance*

Re: "eternal maybes" I do cross them off on my list eventually, but I guess I let them linger for a week or so longer than their estimates. I just crossed one off the other day in fact. :)

I got two rejections: one from yesterday and one from this morning (like, before 6am too! she must'a really hated mine lol). The one from yesterday I sent over two months ago and the one today was from last week. One was the overly nice kind. It even contained links to writing resources (including this forum!). I didn't get offended but I did make this face for like a whole minute --> :\

It made me feel kinda amateur, but at the same time I knew of (and visit) all of those sites currently. It was my new fancy pants query too. I'm starting to wonder if my "bad" query was actually "better."

I'm now up to 30 rejections with 4 of those being fulls and 1 a partial with 15 queries "out there."

You know what, I just realized writing this that I've sent out/gotten more than my last project. (How I miss that one btw. It was such a fun story.) So I think I can be proud of the fact that this one has lasted longer! Yeah! Positive outlook!

Hope everyone has a fun weekend if you celebrate Easter. If you don't I hope you have a fun weekend regardless. :D
 

ohheyyrach77

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ohheyyrach77 - What's the new novel about?

Polar opposite from my last one, this one is a romance.


On a different note I'm new to the whole impatiently waiting thing, should I give myself a limit of how many times a day I can check my email? I feel like refreshing it every hour is probably going to drive me to insanity :D
 

Antonin

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Polar opposite from my last one, this one is a romance.


On a different note I'm new to the whole impatiently waiting thing, should I give myself a limit of how many times a day I can check my email? I feel like refreshing it every hour is probably going to drive me to insanity :D

Honestly, try to forget. Bury yourself in other tasks in order to make checking your email the last thing on your mind.

Or! Set up times to check. I basically give myself two times where I check, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon when business hours are over.
 

RaggedEdge

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Or! Set up times to check. I basically give myself two times where I check, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon when business hours are over.

That's a good idea. I might use a separate email for just my query correspondence. Little chance of forgetting about it hehe and I won't face the roller coaster every time I read my regular email.

I'm so proud of myself. Last night I whittled my 5-page synopsis down to a 1-pager (plus a few lines extra). Whew! I think it makes sense. Still, I think if the first Harry Potter book were a 1-page synopsis, Draco wouldn't be in it, and that's just wrong. Heck, Hagrid might not even make the cut. :Wha:

And big thanks to Krash and Wendy for helping me with my query!

Have a great Easter weekend or Finally Feels Like Spring weekend. I hope that's true, wherever you are, unless you're in the southern hemisphere, in which case may you have a cheery autumn weekend. :)
 

ChocolateChipCookie

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Wendy, I believe you're right about the memoirs being closer to personal that a work of fiction. I hadn't thought of that. You're smart!!!

Antonin, glad you're feeling better.

Ohhey, I cannot help with the obsessive email checking. I did it all day and night long. The funny thing is for me, it never helped. When I finally got real interest, they phoned me out of the blue. I recognized the 212 area code and went WHAT?
 

Hathor

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Sure, memoirs are more personal. I hate being told that my memoir wouldn't be of interest to anyone :rant:That stings a lot more than folks passing on the fiction.

I'm glad you're feeling better, Antonin.

I'm having my first day without the steroid. So far, so good. I even went for my old, regular 3-mile walk around my neighborhood -- felt winded, but I did it in my old time. Every time I exercise I'm doing a bit more, so I'm obviously progressing.

I can hardly wait until the pulmonologist says I can go to the hair salon and get my damn roots done. Then I suppose the next step would be to go ahead and get that oral surgery that got postponed...at which time, I will complain about that ;)

I've told my muses they can come back now. Hasn't happened yet, but I have hopes.
 

Maxtina James ASB

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Glad you're feeling better Antonin.

ohheyyrach77 I do the same. And I'm crazy. lol

Hathor that's really understandable because it's directly about you. Sorry. :( *offers cookies*

ChocolateChipCookie OOohhh to get that glorious phone call one day... :'I


I've had another partial request + another form rejection

No news on my partials so far.

Does that mean my query is decent? :/ What does it mean when you get partial requests? I know it's good, but what gets them?

How can I make the form rej go away? 'not the right project for me' can it mean it's not just about my book?
 
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triceretops

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Does that mean my query is decent? :/ What does it mean when you get partial requests? I know it's good, but what gets them?

First and foremost, it means you have a pretty decent concept/premise that's intriguing or very original. It also means you explained things pretty well in your synopsis or query. You also followed guidelines. And if your writing style or voice came through in the query/synopsis, the editor probably took a shine to it. Generally speaking, I think it means you've got a great hook.

Just some thoughts...

tri
 

Hathor

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Hathor that's really understandable because it's directly about you. Sorry. :( *offers cookies*

Even worse, it's about me and my child (the one who was assessed at the bottom of the first percentile in intelligence and language, spent years in special ed then was homeschooled by yours truly, went to Brown, and is now working on her Ph.D. at UPenn...not to brag or anything ;)).

Oh well, cookies are always appreciated and always make things better. As does wine, which I can now have since I'm finally off all of the counterindicated drugs.

My inclination now is to focus on trying to get rep on fiction, then bring out the NF. I've read that agents don't like the idea of getting different agents for different genres. I could submit directly to small presses, of course. I may try an article on the subject, if I figure out what aspect to focus upon and whom to approach.

But first, I need to stop being such a wiener and nudge on a fiction full where the agent was so complimentary on my book and said she'd get back to me soon. This was back at the beginning of December. I had hopes of at least some useful feedback, so my querying pretty much stopped on it even before I fell into the pneumonia pit.

And I should reread WIP and all my betas' comments thereon since that's the only way my muses are coming back I think. I'm not physically at 100%, but I think my mind is back. I'll guess I'll see, huh :Shrug:
 

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Thanks, everyone. E-mail sent with the misspelling mentioned. Now, back to waiting. The crickets in my mailbox are getting restless.

Back when I was really sick, I started noticing that I was having trouble looking at the computer for any length of time before my eyes started watering. Figured it was part of my head cold. But I continued to have eye fatigue even after all other symptoms subsided, so went to the eye doctor this week. He wrote 2 new prescriptions, 1 of which is exclusively for computer use. Hopefully, those will do the trick, and I can start getting a little more writing done than I have in weeks.:Headbang:

Edited to add: Glad to hear you're getting off medications, Hathor. Hope your muse returns soon.
 
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angeliz2k

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Well, off went the revised ms to the agent who agreed (when prompted) to look at it . . . Every time I get an email, I get a rush of adrenaline. She responded quickly to the partial and full mss (within about a week), so I'm hoping for a relatively quick turnaround here.

I made a silly mistake, though: I had the files ready to go, but they needed formatting (ie, I needed to switch to Times New Roman, double-space it, and add headers and footers). I did that but forgot to save it. I attached the file and sent the email before saving, so she got the un-formatted file. Realizing my mistake, I sent a second email with files that have crisper formatting. The ms itself is exactly the same, so I guess it isn't a big deal. But I do feel like it doesn't reflect on me all that well. Oops.
 

Hathor

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Glad to hear you're getting off medications, Hathor. Hope your muse returns soon.

Me, too (to both sentences). Last night -- first without the steroid -- I slept like the dead. First full night's sleep since February. And I feel like I might take a nap this afternoon. My, that drug must be potent.

I just have two inhalers now. The "in case you have to cough" one is nearly out, but I haven't had to use it in a couple days. I hope I will be authorized to stop taking the regularly scheduled one soon -- it makes me shaky and it costs us $240 (with insurance discount) for a month's supply. Irk.

I suppose $240 won't seem like much when the hospital and doctors' bills start coming. Going with a cheaper, catastrophic health ins plan with a high deductible sounded good back when I was so healthy...

At least getting sick helps put one's life in perspective, huh? I haven't worried about rejections and the like for weeks.

I do hope your new prescriptions work, DS.

How are our other ailing folks doing? We had a painful back, shoulder, and sacroiliac out there... am I forgetting anyone?

Edit - posted before mentioning that I plan to start working on my writing again tomorrow, muse or no muse.
 
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Ellielle

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Glad you're somewhat on the mend, Hathor.

At least getting sick helps put one's life in perspective, huh? I haven't worried about rejections and the like for weeks.

I know this feeling. I haven't been terribly concerned about my queries still floating around and certainly haven't sent new ones for weeks. Can't decide if I'm happy for the perspective shift or not, though. I kind of miss having queries be the bane of my life. They were really such a nicer bane than my semi-functioning arm.

Am I ailing shoulder? I'm going to assume so. The good news is: MRI came back showing no significant disc damage so I should be able to make a full recovery and not have lasting pain from this. Bad news is: there's clearly still nerves getting crushed somewhere, best plan of treatment isn't 100% certain (because physical therapy was such a disaster, I'm trying a chiropractor next week), and the doctor says I shouldn't expect to be back to normal for at least another two months (though I don't know where this number is coming from because no one's told me for certain what's actually been damaged or what to do about it). :rant:

I feel like I've got an opposite problem to Hathor. My muse is alive and kicking, but is just trapped in the cage of my mind. Typing is extremely difficult (I can type about 100 words before my elbow seizes up and aches like I've hit the funny bone on something), so I can't do much of it. That's also why I'm currently an infrequent visitor here.

On that note: so many new people! Hello, new people! One day I'll be back and actually see more of you.
 
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Hathor

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Ellielle, I hope the chiropractor works out for you.

Many years ago, I slipped on the ice and landed on my back, leading to extreme pain in neck and shoulder. Consensus seemed to be a pinched nerve. Regular doctor gave me drugs which didn't help. Two visits to a chiropractor took care of the problem. Indeed, the first trip gave me substantial relief.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that this will be your experience.

In the meantime, perhaps your muse could visit me? :tongue

Eh, probably I just need to put in some BIC (Butt In Chair) time to jumpstart myself.
 
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krashnburn

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Glad you're doing better, Hathor and Ant!
Hope you start getting relief, Ell!
Hope you hear back on the MS soon, Liz!
Lots of subs, tri--good luck!
I'm probably missing updates, but I'll throw out some general huggies and hellos!

Crickets for me. I'm coming to the end of my MG+adult list. I guess I'm going to move on to MG only and then bring up the adult thing if any of them happen to be interested in the MG (and hope no one gets annoyed if they are not).
 

Hathor

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Well, I got over my fear and asked for a status update on a full that's been outstanding for nearly six months. The agent immediately responded and said she's been swamped and has closed submissions through September just to get caught up in reading.

But she says she's still interested in reading my work, so my greatest fears ("didn't you get the rejection I sent" or "you want an answer -- no!") didn't materialize.

Since I hoped for feedback from this submission if nothing else (upgrade from a partial), I guess I'll hold off more querying of this for now. I've gone through quite a few agents already and I don't want to run out of folks I can query in case there is something that needs fixing.

So I guess I'll turn back to WIP and figure out the whole sex thing. Krash wanted more explicit stuff, but some other betas liked the subtler approach of my original version. Right now, I don't have a personal preference. I could always have two versions (one for pitching as fantasy, the other as romance?) or I can come up with a compromise version.

Unless my muse shows up and tells me what to do...
 

ap123

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Hathor, I just sent a status check request today, also. Hopefully I'll hear back. :) Glad you're feeling better, and off the steroids--I know my boys have been miserable when on them for asthma.

My back is improving, provided I don't actually do anything. Blah.

Hopefully everyone will hear something good this week.
 

RaggedEdge

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How are our other ailing folks doing? We had a painful back, shoulder, and sacroiliac out there... am I forgetting anyone?

Hathor - I think you're showing remarkable improvement. A 3-mile walk? And your coughing mostly under control? For how sick you were, that seems like excellent progress, although I can understand it feels like a crawl to you. I'm the one with the sacroiliac (SI) pain. My problem is that it's worse this time, with a more pronounced problem with my hips as well. The SI problem has always been in my right pelvis, and that's the hip that feels 'out of place' slightly 99% of the time now. But just in the last few weeks my left foot started acting up, going to sleep when I sit and hard to walk on when I first rise. I saw my doctor Friday and I forgot to mention it (too many other things to talk about I guess). I'm only 43 and I've always been healthy so I don't want to sound like I'm falling apart but having a weird pelvis definitely affects a lot of other things. Anyway, I had X-rays done Friday and I should get the results any day. I put it off to finish paying off the physical therapy I had last summer... gah. You're right. Health trouble is too expensive even with insurance.

Antonin and Ellielle - Glad to hear you're both on the mend. Ellielle, sorry it's a long haul for you. I'm sure we'll all be glad when you can type more easily and get back to writing and posting more often again.
 

krashnburn

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So I guess I'll turn back to WIP and figure out the whole sex thing. Krash wanted more explicit stuff, but some other betas liked the subtler approach of my original version.

The first time I read this, I thought you meant I wanted more explicit than what you revised to, and I was gonna say, woah, woah, woah--no! Then I realized you meant between the original and the revision.

I think there is a nice middle ground. If I recall correctly, I liked the stuff at the pool, which was only a few short paragraphs and not particularly explicit. It was the stuff about "let's do it in the road" and the porch that I thought kind of dragged it out.
 

Antonin

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Well, I crossed off one of my queries as a no-means-no.

Then I sent off two more! HA! Take that publishing world.

Hathor - It's sounding like your doing great. Keep it up :) Also congrats on the agent still being interested.
 

angeliz2k

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Well, I got over my fear and asked for a status update on a full that's been outstanding for nearly six months. The agent immediately responded and said she's been swamped and has closed submissions through September just to get caught up in reading.

But she says she's still interested in reading my work, so my greatest fears ("didn't you get the rejection I sent" or "you want an answer -- no!") didn't materialize.

Since I hoped for feedback from this submission if nothing else (upgrade from a partial), I guess I'll hold off more querying of this for now. I've gone through quite a few agents already and I don't want to run out of folks I can query in case there is something that needs fixing.

So I guess I'll turn back to WIP and figure out the whole sex thing. Krash wanted more explicit stuff, but some other betas liked the subtler approach of my original version. Right now, I don't have a personal preference. I could always have two versions (one for pitching as fantasy, the other as romance?) or I can come up with a compromise version.

Unless my muse shows up and tells me what to do...

FWIW, I think a compromise version is a good idea.

And I seriously need some butt-in-chair time myself. Or some butt-in-library time. I think I may have an idea for a new WIP, but it would require a lot of research. I would enjoy the research once I got started, but the inertia is killing me.

Sorry not to wish everyone good luck, etc. I've been running around and not able to keep real close tabs on this thread.
 

DragonShark

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Well, the silence in my in-box ended yesterday, with a form R on a short story. Oh, and as far as my eyes? Still tired, even with 1 of the new prescriptions, though not as bad as before. Waiting on the computer prescription, it's supposed to come in by the end of this week.

Ellielle, good luck with the chiropractor.

Ragged, hope the x-rays help with finding a way to stop your pain.

ap, glad to hear your back is better.

Here's hoping for only good news for all of us this week!
 
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