I’m learning something new about myself. When I have a full requested by an agent I like, I stop querying. It’s not an intentional, “This is it. No need to send these things out any more!” It’s more of a, “Damn, that’s hard work. I’ll get to it later.” Later just happens to come after…
So I have decided that rejections that offer praise first actually sting more than just flat rejection. “This is a great story with strong writing, but I didn’t fall in love with it” says to me “Damn you were close, but it just didn’t click with me” which stings SO MUCH MORE than just a…
So if you don’t make it out of the slush pile, you’re most likely getting the ax by the assistant tasked with grinding the slush. Assuming the assistant wants to be an agent someday down the road, not only are you getting rejected by the agent you queried, you’re getting rejected by an agent from…
If you know the name Sonny Liston at all, you know it’s the guy on the mat in the famous Mohammed Ali photo. It’s one of the most highly recognizable/promoted sports pictures in American sports history. There’s Ali talking smack and some boxer on the mat he’s just knocked down in the first round. That’s…
We only went into a day of injury time before the game came to an end. Our beloved hometown heroes have lost this one in a buzzer beater. While it’s easy to feel torn up and brought down by rejection, you do that shit in the privacy of your own home, not on the internet.…
So you’ve written your novel, you’ve revised it, you’ve received feedback, you’ve revised it again, you’ve written a query, you’ve revised it, you’ve received feedback, you’ve revised it again, you’ve queried, you’ve paced madly worrying about rejection, you’ve been asked for a partial manuscript, you’ve revised the partial in fear of it not being good…
First, yesterday was awesome. My niece began her freshman year at Boston University, and the person with whom she was going to have Thanksgiving dinner bailed. Which meant she ended up at my place. I’ve never had the opportunity to hang with her without one of her parents around and this is the first time…
This is a query I submitted1 to one (and only one) agency for my first novel, BLACK MAGIC AND BARBECUE SAUCE. I repost it here as a lesson for you all. How not to get an agent: Attention humans I am Cyrus the Conqueror. I am not Mr. Whiskers. I am not Kitty the Conqueror.…
It’s a Friday, I have a full manuscript with an agent, and I’m querying others. This reminds me of a meme the Rejectionist had on her blog. It feels poignant today: The Rejectionist asked another question, one I felt worhty of a response. The question returns us to a topic I have written on frequently…
As I mentioned on Friday, my productivity fell to shit when I joked about being the anonymous subject of an agent’s impending rejection. I checked my email over and over and over again until the day came to a close, and it was time to go home. Of course, there was no rush to go…