Friday, June 25, 2010

Rough Week

Hopefully your week went better than mine. Broke my tooth last Friday and lived with the accompanying pain until Tuesday, when the dentist extracted the offending tooth. Of course, writing wasn't really an option, as pain is not a good conductor to imagination or romance.

On top of that, I received a rejection that same day from an editor I'd queried a couple of months ago. Writer's are such strange people ... I didn't read the email (even though it could have, right there on my phone) until I got home. In my flawed logic, as long as I didn't read the email, I wasn't rejected.

When I finally recovered from my Vicodin-induced haze, her polite rejection said, "I think you have a really intriguing premise, but it just didn’t quite resonate with me. This is only one editor’s subjective opinion, of course.

I wish you the best of luck with your manuscript."

What the h*$$ does that mean? I'd love to sit down with the editor to get the unvarnished truth of what she saw, or didn't see in my manuscript. Because something is missing, and I'm stumped as to what it could be. The problem is, editors are afraid to tell writers the truth, for fear of retribution or an angry reaction.

So, without a way to get an answer, the best thing I can do is go on. Back to writing at least an hour every day. Listen to workshop tapes and polish my craft.

My goal is to top 30K words on my manuscript. What's your goal this next week?

6 comments:

  1. Wow. What a crappy week. I'm so sorry. Remember this one editor's rejection does not a career make. ( If that makes sense, let me know.)
    Think of Steph R. - she received over 140 before she pubbed. Miss you. Love you. Nancy CB

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sorry to hear about the rejection, a fact of life for a writer. Must be margarita time :)

    I don't know if I'd use the word afraid. That same editor most likely will want to buy the project you're working on now. And truthfully, it's a small world, so if she can reject without putting her teeth into you, all the better. The other thought I have on this is that sometimes it's probably hard to say why a manuscript doesn't resonate with one editor when it will be totally gobbled up by another.

    When I read a book, one that I'm ho-hum about, I can always name several other pals who are crazy in love with it, and visa versa. I'm like - WOW!, and someone else - it's alright :)

    Treat yourself special today! Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I try to celebrate every rejection. It means that I am courageous and that I am doing something that very few other people ever do.

    It works (nearly all of the time), so go ahead and give yourself a hooray! You deserve lots of celebrations, hugs, and congratulations. :) :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nancy, Susan, Linda ... thank you so much for the hugs, love and encouragement. It means the world to me! Without your support, I'd be one of those "Wanted to write" writers :-) I'm having a cocktail tonight, and celebrating being brave, sending out my work, posting on a blog :-).

    ReplyDelete
  5. It would be a crying waste of talent if you were a 'wanted to write'.

    ReplyDelete