The Daily Rejection

Welp, I didn't get picked. These first 250 contests are really not treating me well.

I'm kind of pissed off that they announced the winners early. Hearing other people do a victory dance on Twitter when you weren't even expecting the results yet is not a fun way to discover that you lost.

gckatz said:

Welp, I didn't get picked. These first 250 contests are really not treating me well.

I'm kind of pissed off that they announced the winners early. Hearing other people do a victory dance on Twitter when you weren't even expecting the results yet is not a fun way to discover that you lost.

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I know what you mean. I checked while I was in bed, since they said they'd announce in the morning, and after checking all three blogs about a dozen times to see if I hadn't missed my manuscript title or something, I realized I hadn't won

...slept about three hours because of that

Drachen Jager said:

Awesome, Hathor, congrats!

Where can we find it?

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I'm a SC Spook. There is a brief mentor period, then entries will be posted on the 28th.

JJ Litke said:

Hathor->

Hmm, my title is Shieldfail. Which do you think is more likely, that another entry's title is Superfail, or that someone messed up my title when posting the picks?

They both seem like a real stretch to me.

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I guess you'll find out for sure when you get a mentor email (or not).

Sorry for those who didn't make it in Yeah, first 250 contests are particularly subjective, and I'm sure the selections are keyed to what the agent lineup wants. They said that decisions were hard.

So don't give up. I didn't make the cut for two different 250 ones last year (with old MS), then made it into Baker's Dozen. (Not that it got me anywhere, but now is not a time for me to whine.)

I wish there had been a set time for release and they'd stuck to it. I was expecting the announcements this morning but checked Twitter and saw otherwise. I had to check all three blogs to see if I made it in. I didn't see my mentor email until this morning. (Not Ms. Wendy, but she's already looked at my stuff.)

Now I'm waiting to see if I made it into the pre-BD logline critique round. The entries are to be posted today. I am alternate number one, meaning I get in if someone withdraws or is disqualified.

If there is anything more unsettling that first 250 contests, it's first 250 contests that use loglines rather than the entire query.

Congrats, Hathor!
Huggies to the others!
I didn't recognize any other titles from here, although I think I did recognize a changed title for a book that's been running the contest scene for at least 1.5 years...

I'm kind of getting sick of contests with constantly changing dates and rules--both the stress of being in them and the stress of watching my friends in them be stressed. I think I'm just sick of stress right now, period. Every little thing has me stressed to the max. I'm losing hair, getting extra gray...I just want things to go they way they should for once. /end personal rant.

Hathor, high five! I'm also in, on Michelle's team! And I slept through the announcement too because I didn't realize it would be early lol. They definitely didn't make it sound like it was going to be early.

I'm excited about the mentorship aspect (already got her first round of comments, and I'm glad because my query apparently needs it) but I'll be REALLY surprised if I get a request from an agent I'd want to send to. Or a request at all. (Somebody earlier was saying something about the disconnect between readers/potential readers liking their work and agents not liking it...I have that.)

To those that didn't get in: hugs, and ignore the obnoxiousness on Twitter haha. But besides the fact that we all know not getting in doesn't really mean that much, based on what I'm seeing on who did and didn't get in, it definitely doesn't mean agents won't request from other places! (and if agents are requesting from you, you're still ahead of me. let's keep our eyes on the ultimate goal)

JJ, I've already gotten my mentor email, but yours might just be taking a while......that's super awkward. And Superfail would be a really weird title, but some people have really weird titles. Ugh. Do you have Twitter? You could see if one of the mentors/hosts is looking for you.

Hathor - Woooohooooo! Congrats! I really like SC based on his Twitter feed. I can't wait to see your new opening, since you've changed it since I saw it. Obviously it's working. I'll be interested to hear how the mentoring round goes!

ETA: Congrats to Maramoser, too! Yayyyyy!!!

JJ--What Hathor said. You should get an email if you're in.

Hugs to everyone who didn't get into NoQS. It's hard. One of the mentors, Laura Heffernan, has written a blog post about her own contest failures. She got her agent through querying. She doesn't have that many blog posts so it's not hard to find if you're interested.

I didn't make it but I'm a mixture of sad and relieved. More relieved, I think. I had a panic attack at 4 a.m. yesterday when I realized if I won that meant my query and 250 would be posted for the world to see. I have a hard time with that. I'm sure I'd benefit from mentoring though, so that's a bummer.

Krash--I hear you on stress. I'm totally ready to relax into my WIP again while I start querying again. I hope your life calms down too.

Hathor said:

NoQS picks are up. I made it. I can't believe it.

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Congrats, Hathor!

Maramoser said:

Hathor, high five! I'm also in, on Michelle's team! And I slept through the announcement too because I didn't realize it would be early lol. They definitely didn't make it sound like it was going to be early.

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Congrats, Maramoser! (I wondered if that was your entry when I saw it. )

Woohoo, Hathor andMaramoser! That's great! Sorry for those who didn't make it in.

krash, sorry you're feeling down.

I generally don't take part in contests because it seems to me like being asked to jump through hoops just to get noticed. Personally, I don't like being made to feel like I'm begging at the agents' door and need to do tricks . . . Not that, I know, that's what's intended or what's happening. It just feels that way because I'm super sensitive.

I do the Twitter pitch contests because 1) writing the twitches was fun and informative 2) it doesn't require a lot of time, effort, or bowing/scraping before the almighty agents and 3) it seems to have some real merit since twitches are like taglines, while other contests ask for things that aren't necessarily relevant outside the contest. That's just my take on contests. Not a big fan.

No email, so I guess that answers that. Jeez, that just made it extra depressing. I tried not to hope too much, but it was hard not to. But the worst is, someone else has a similar title that kind of ruins mine.

Congrats Maramoser *fist bump* Now let the best team win.

I am curious what I will hear about my first page. It's far from action-packed. I've futzed with it ad nauseam.

Sorry about all the stress, krash.

angeliz2k said:

I generally don't take part in contests because it seems to me like being asked to jump through hoops just to get noticed. Personally, I don't like being made to feel like I'm begging at the agents' door and need to do tricks . . . Not that, I know, that's what's intended or what's happening. It just feels that way because I'm super sensitive.

I do the Twitter pitch contests because 1) writing the twitches was fun and informative 2) it doesn't require a lot of time, effort, or bowing/scraping before the almighty agents and 3) it seems to have some real merit since twitches are like taglines, while other contests ask for things that aren't necessarily relevant outside the contest. That's just my take on contests. Not a big fan.

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Liz, I get what you're saying. I have felt that way, too. Sometimes the hoops seem worth it or the right kind of challenge; other times they seem a bit silly and condescending to me.

JJ Litke said:

No email, so I guess that answers that. Jeez, that just made it extra depressing. I tried not to hope too much, but it was hard not to. But the worst is, someone else has a similar title that kind of ruins mine.

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Sorry! I wouldn't worry about the title. If it's not in your ms's age or genre, it won't matter one bit. 'Superfail' makes me think of 'epic fail' or 'super size me' and could be anything, especially humorous contemporary, whereas 'ShieldFail' sounds much more Sci-fi/Fantasy.

Hathor said:

I am curious what I will hear about my first page. It's far from action-packed. I've futzed with it ad nauseam.

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Hathor, SC tweeted a bunch about this the other day. Check out his 'Tweets & Replies' at Twitter. He said 'action' is not what he looks for but 'promise.' I think that's an excellent way to look at it. I'm the same way as a reader. I rarely like action openings but I love to be drawn in by the sense something good is coming.

Hi everyone! I've been mostly lurking lately (hello adverb usage), so I'm going to throw out some blanket for requests and for any and all Rs. There will also be wine to go with your hard earned whine.


Happy to be back

Oh man, I missed some good news!

I quit writing for that site. I feel pretty good about it, like I was standing up for what I believed in or something. It was nice... until the doubt set in and I started acting like "a person who had just had a terrible break up" according to the wife. Feeling alright about the whole thing now.

Hoping for a better week for all of us!

krashnburn said:

I'm kind of getting sick of contests with constantly changing dates and rules--both the stress of being in them and the stress of watching my friends in them be stressed. I think I'm just sick of stress right now, period. Every little thing has me stressed to the max. I'm losing hair, getting extra gray...I just want things to go they way they should for once. /end personal rant.

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Same. I've been super stressed out lately and every time I see those contests I just go "hahaha nope" and close tab.

Nova Odyssey said:

Then either gckatz or Antonin or some author intervened and explained why they liked the book and how the agent should take me on. I remember the bookstore had two levels, and lots of light. Well, that's it. Absolute Write dreams continue, even though I know you guys as text and avatars.

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Hmm... was it a blur of color or sharply dressed young man? (I'm still young right?) Cause then it'd totally be me.

Oddly enough, I may have had a dream where I was looking to get somewhere.

Hathor said:

NoQS picks are up. I made it. I can't believe it.

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noranne said:

I...got a full request this morning.

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Happy Tuesday, everyone. We had a great time with company this weekend, but looks like it's back to the 'real world' now. Bummer.

Goals for the week:
- figure out what I'm going to write for NaNo
- figure out what I'm going to bring to critique group on Monday
- lots of beta reading & my #NOQS mentoring


Hathor - Why don't you write out your response in Notepad first and then copy/paste it into the reply box?

And also, I wouldn't rely solely on PM, as not all agents report all sales (ETA: As now I see JJ already pointed out). Besides, you don't want something on there that's *too* similar -- if the agent already has an author writing mythic fantasy, s/he might want to diversify instead of taking on another.

Maramoser - I'm with you with having no idea what to do with NaNo. It seems my biggest issue is writing cross-genre stuff that's hard to categorize and therefore a tougher sell than straight genre fiction.

Ragged - Stephen King was the only of the four that I've actually read anything by (though obvs I've seen the movie for Gone with the Wind). David Foster Wallace's stuff definitely does sound interesting, though!

Nora -

Eliza - The stat I've heard is that anything over 10% request rate is great. Mine was right around there before getting my offer of rep. 75% is ridiculous. I read the article and could argue EVERY one of his points, the biggest one being the first. YES agents HAVE changed their business models since 2005. Email queries are probably the biggest factor, since now everyone and their brother can send out 10000 queries to any and all agents. The fact that he's talking about marking "REQUESTED MATERIALS" on the *envelope* shows how dated his information is. Totally unrealistic.

CCC - You're making enough Hallowtinis to share, right?


NoQS - Congrats, Hathor & Maramoser!
They didn't tell the mentors that they were announcing early, either, so unfortunately, my mentee didn't get her email until hours after the announcement, either.

As far as contests go, I kind of wonder if there's too many right now, especially when they come all at the same time like these ones have. It can definitely be stressful. But they are good for getting feedback and getting to know other authors in the same place.

Hathor said:

NoQS picks are up. I made it. I can't believe it.

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Congrats, hon.

I'm busy revising again, and reading for my awesome PW teammate. Sorry if I miss anything good.

Hathor said:

NoQS picks are up. I made it. I can't believe it.

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So happy for you, Hathor. You needed this!

gckatz said:

Welp, I didn't get picked. These first 250 contests are really not treating me well.

I'm kind of pissed off that they announced the winners early. Hearing other people do a victory dance on Twitter when you weren't even expecting the results yet is not a fun way to discover that you lost.

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I've found out I didn't make contests that way too, and it isn't nice.

angeliz2k said:

Woohoo, Hathor andMaramoser! That's great! Sorry for those who didn't make it in.

krash, sorry you're feeling down.

I generally don't take part in contests because it seems to me like being asked to jump through hoops just to get noticed. Personally, I don't like being made to feel like I'm begging at the agents' door and need to do tricks . . . Not that, I know, that's what's intended or what's happening. It just feels that way because I'm super sensitive.

I do the Twitter pitch contests because 1) writing the twitches was fun and informative 2) it doesn't require a lot of time, effort, or bowing/scraping before the almighty agents and 3) it seems to have some real merit since twitches are like taglines, while other contests ask for things that aren't necessarily relevant outside the contest. That's just my take on contests. Not a big fan.

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I had to reeaaaallly force myself into pitchwars for this very reason (and even join social media world). My friend was appalled and said it's like reality TV making you writers make a spectacle of yourself, a commodity to market. Half of why I joined social media was because this is the new reality of writing... Good advice. Oh, and then there are the fees for some of them...

Antonin said:

Hmm... was it a blur of color or sharply dressed young man? (I'm still young right?) Cause then it'd totally be me.

Oddly enough, I may have had a dream where I was looking to get somewhere.

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I didn't get a face, color or gender. Just an association it was either of you two- perhaps a baseball cap of sorts. Well so far still no word from agent!

Carleree said:

Congrats, hon.

I'm busy revising again, and reading for my awesome PW teammate. Sorry if I miss anything good.

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was wondering where Carleree was....

CG Hathor!

Rejection on one of my pitch slam requests today. Definitely hurts more than a query rejection, but I just have to remember that it only takes one "yes" among all the "no"s to find success.

Is anyone else following this crazy show?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jennaguilla...hen-an-author-tracks-down-a-critic-irl#s4crc7

An author stalking a book blogger. Yeesh. It's taken over my Twitter feed...

Nova Odyssey said:

was wondering where Carleree was....

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My mentor is like the mafia. Just when I think I'm done, she pulls me back in.

QueenofLALALand said:

Is anyone else following this crazy show?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jennaguilla...hen-an-author-tracks-down-a-critic-irl#s4crc7

An author stalking a book blogger. Yeesh. It's taken over my Twitter feed...

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Scary shit, there. I've read way too much about this today, too.

Carleree said:

My mentor is like the mafia. Just when I think I'm done, she pulls me back in.

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JJ Litke said:

Scary shit, there. I've read way too much about this today, too.

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What's even more scary is the author who actually hit a reviewer in the head with a wine bottle. He makes KH seem tame in comparison.

Good thing we're all being rejected so much by agents/publishers.

We'll all have thick enough skins to handle snarky online crits with more grace when the time comes.

Hubby freaked out when I showed him that article. He's trying to come up with a new pen name and is insisting I use an avatar. But I don't have one. If you guys have any ideas, I'm all ears. I'd like to stay married.