Tag: rejection

2014: A Year in the Writer’s Life

happy-new-yearHi friends,

2014 ends tomorrow night. Of all twenty-two of my years spent breathing, this has been the most intense.

It’s the year that I completed my college education and the year I moved across a continent to a place where I didn’t know a soul. In the last 365 days I became a certified teacher, discovered my passion for outdoor education, parted ways with love, and began teaching a class of twenty-six hormonal eleven-year-olds.

It’s also the year that I finished writing my first novel and began drafting my second.

From rewrites to rejections to more rewrites it’s been a hell of an experience. And now, with a shiny new full time job, I’m beginning to realize that publication just isn’t going to happen as quickly as I’d like it to. There’s just not enough time in the day to work, pump out queries, and swamp your social media pages with blog posts. I’ve spent the last month mentally kicking myself for not querying enough, not drafting enough, not blogging enough. But honestly, what and who sets the standards for “enough?” Here’s a revelation: It’s me. I’m in charge of how much I say is enough, and if I can’t manage a blog post a week or a thousand words a day, then too damn bad. I’ll live. My books will continue to exist and I’ll get to it when I can.

 

 

New Year’s Resolutions: Breathe.

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Rejection Bliss- My First “Thanks, but no thanks” From an Agent

Dear Internet,

After sending my manuscript to two agents (there will be many more to come) I’ve received my first rejection letter. I had a feeling before opening the email that the contents would not be favorable. However, upon reading the very polite “No thank you, negative, it’s not for me,” I felt no heart-sinking disappointment, no exhale of frustration. Instead of crawling into a corner of denial and bent pride I found myself standing in the middle of the sidewalk staring at my phone with a big idiotic grin on my face. Someone read my manuscript! A professional, real life agent read it! And they didn’t even say they hated it! Or that it’ll never sell! They read it and they said that, due to a stylistic preference, it’s not for them. Even better, they encouraged me to continue querying other agents. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m not sure if each rejection will incite the same ridiculous giddiness. Being turned down is bound to get old. But for now I feel more motivated than ever to keep working towards publication. I’ll be sending out two more queries some time this week once I finish writing a synopsis of my book. Expect a post on synopsis writing as it’s far more difficult than I expected. Until then, keep writing and best of luck.