Happy new year 5766 -- L'shanah tovah
Oct. 4th, 2005 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shalannaActually, the Jewish New Year began at sunset yesterday. I just couldn't get this posted any sooner.
Rosh Hashanah, the Birthday of the World, is the first of the 10 Days of Awe, a yearly opportunity Jews have to take stock of life, pay off old debts, give charity, and ask and offer forgiveness. Although I'm a member of the Church of Christ, I am going to take these days as an opportunity for reflection. Whoever I've upset or done wrong this year, I hope that prayerful reflection will bring me to understand how I might make up for it or make restitution. It's something that of course you can do anytime, but I think there's a special resonance when a large part of the world is doing it at the same time you are.
The Lord has already reminded me of the time last month that Mama and I rolled the cart out of WallyWorld, loaded the car, and then plucked our purses out of the baby-basket part of the cart only to discover two boxes of guacamole dip that had been under them. She looked pretty stricken. I almost burst out laughing. Wicked thieves! Sneaky middle-aged soccer-van capitalists! She was so exhausted by that time that she'd have had to wait in the car while I ran back in and got in line to pay. It was really hot and I was having a sugar crash, so I said, "I can't stand to trek back in there and wait in that line at customer service. I'll take care of it later." Yep, a rationalization. I also said I didn't feel guilty because the month before, they double-charged me for a blouse that was on sale. (The checker thought it hadn't beeped and ran the price tag across the scanner again, but it really had rung up the first time. I was too preoccupied finding my checkbook to notice until I got home and read the receipt.) But anyhow, if THEY want to make restitution for that whenever I dig up that old receipt, that's a different matter. I need to go pay the $5 or so for the dip (and what were we doing eating guacamole on our sandwiches?), and I'll do that this afternoon. It's something that I could easily let slip, but it's on our consciences.
I am also told that this is the first day of the feast of Ramadan. Wow! It's unusual for these two holidays to occur simultaneously. Heaven must be happy to hear so much rejoicing and meditation/reflection. I think it's pretty cool myself.
# # #
Yesterday, I got a rejection in the mail. It was odd, as I'd sent the query/partial by e-mail and expected the same type of response. The agent said that my book was well written, but just didn't have enough action for her. (She put "action" in scare quotes, so she knows it's subjective--that anything can be thought of as action, but she had a particular kind of motion and speed in mind.) But what's funny was, this was a form letter where they'd crossed out "Dear Author" and put my name and the personal note at the bottom, then signed it. I suppose that was meant to make this more personal, but it bugged me somehow. I know we're not Close Personal Friends, but wow, those form letters really sting. There was no reference to the title of the work, so I had to go back into my e-mail archives to figure out which book I had sent her. It makes more sense to just e-mail me if I do business by e-mail. This way, there was a chance of the family seeing the rejection. Ack! That'd have given them more ammunition, never a good thing.
Well, anyhow, it can go into a folder with the other stuff to show the IRS that this isn't a hobby, although I'm not filing a schedule C or deducting any of the postage and stuff yet. (I'm just keeping it so that if I ever DO have the opportunity to deduct and need to show that I've been at this for years, I'll have some evidence. Of course there's no date on the letter, but the envelope is postmarked.)
Okay, that's not so weird. But then later in the day, an instructor from whom I'd taken an online class sent out a notice telling people that they could send this same agent a writing sample to audition for a new line coming out from a book packager. It would be work-for-hire, but it might be a foot in the door. I sent an e-mail with a writing sample, and prefaced it with the info that the instructor had given me. This morning, I got back a one-liner from the agent telling me that the instructor was wrong about which packager it was. Apparently, that's my rejection. Or is it? Maybe she was just telling me I misread the info. It doesn't matter to me which packager is involved, as long as their checks don't bounce. *grin* I am not sure I'd want to do it anyway, as I would want my name on the book(s) even if I didn't get royalties, but I thought I might as well send a sample. Well, we'll see. I'm hoping that was all she was doing, just straightening me out about who the packager is. Maybe she hasn't already read the stuff and dismissed the possibility of my doing this.
Maybe it Simply Isn't Done to keep talking to an agent who has rejected you. Maybe I will be an object of mockery, appearing to be begging at the doorstep of a boyfriend who has already spurned you. But I'm treating this like a business, and as far as non-publishing businesses are concerned, you can send in an application anytime there's a new job listing and it's all right. The worst they can do is trash it, right?
This particular book is not full of a lot of action, by the way. It's more an exploration of relationships and is character-driven. My heroine moves in an arc from being a superstitious person who feels her bad luck keeps her from doing or getting anything good to being someone who acknowleges that we make at least some of our own luck, and that we do have some control over our destinies. (Call it fantasy if you like. That's how people tell me it should be, anyway.) It's a funny book, but most of the action is interaction among the characters, rather than a lot of flying about the country or playing in football games or what-have-you. I think I might be doing it a disservice by marketing it as chick lit, because the heroine is pretty smart and isn't a ditz at all, whereas chick lit usually has a more naive heroine who doesn't do so much thinking. Despite the chicklitty tone, this could actually be women's fiction. Maybe my query is making them expect something different from what they get. Sure, it gets them to request the partial, but that's just a waste of paper and postage (when it's snailmail) as well as time, because it isn't the kind of book they're set up to expect via the query. Maybe the query implies a fast-paced romp.
I hate marketing. When I win the lottery, I'm going to hire a marketing clerk to do it.
Rosh Hashanah, the Birthday of the World, is the first of the 10 Days of Awe, a yearly opportunity Jews have to take stock of life, pay off old debts, give charity, and ask and offer forgiveness. Although I'm a member of the Church of Christ, I am going to take these days as an opportunity for reflection. Whoever I've upset or done wrong this year, I hope that prayerful reflection will bring me to understand how I might make up for it or make restitution. It's something that of course you can do anytime, but I think there's a special resonance when a large part of the world is doing it at the same time you are.
The Lord has already reminded me of the time last month that Mama and I rolled the cart out of WallyWorld, loaded the car, and then plucked our purses out of the baby-basket part of the cart only to discover two boxes of guacamole dip that had been under them. She looked pretty stricken. I almost burst out laughing. Wicked thieves! Sneaky middle-aged soccer-van capitalists! She was so exhausted by that time that she'd have had to wait in the car while I ran back in and got in line to pay. It was really hot and I was having a sugar crash, so I said, "I can't stand to trek back in there and wait in that line at customer service. I'll take care of it later." Yep, a rationalization. I also said I didn't feel guilty because the month before, they double-charged me for a blouse that was on sale. (The checker thought it hadn't beeped and ran the price tag across the scanner again, but it really had rung up the first time. I was too preoccupied finding my checkbook to notice until I got home and read the receipt.) But anyhow, if THEY want to make restitution for that whenever I dig up that old receipt, that's a different matter. I need to go pay the $5 or so for the dip (and what were we doing eating guacamole on our sandwiches?), and I'll do that this afternoon. It's something that I could easily let slip, but it's on our consciences.
I am also told that this is the first day of the feast of Ramadan. Wow! It's unusual for these two holidays to occur simultaneously. Heaven must be happy to hear so much rejoicing and meditation/reflection. I think it's pretty cool myself.
Yesterday, I got a rejection in the mail. It was odd, as I'd sent the query/partial by e-mail and expected the same type of response. The agent said that my book was well written, but just didn't have enough action for her. (She put "action" in scare quotes, so she knows it's subjective--that anything can be thought of as action, but she had a particular kind of motion and speed in mind.) But what's funny was, this was a form letter where they'd crossed out "Dear Author" and put my name and the personal note at the bottom, then signed it. I suppose that was meant to make this more personal, but it bugged me somehow. I know we're not Close Personal Friends, but wow, those form letters really sting. There was no reference to the title of the work, so I had to go back into my e-mail archives to figure out which book I had sent her. It makes more sense to just e-mail me if I do business by e-mail. This way, there was a chance of the family seeing the rejection. Ack! That'd have given them more ammunition, never a good thing.
Well, anyhow, it can go into a folder with the other stuff to show the IRS that this isn't a hobby, although I'm not filing a schedule C or deducting any of the postage and stuff yet. (I'm just keeping it so that if I ever DO have the opportunity to deduct and need to show that I've been at this for years, I'll have some evidence. Of course there's no date on the letter, but the envelope is postmarked.)
Okay, that's not so weird. But then later in the day, an instructor from whom I'd taken an online class sent out a notice telling people that they could send this same agent a writing sample to audition for a new line coming out from a book packager. It would be work-for-hire, but it might be a foot in the door. I sent an e-mail with a writing sample, and prefaced it with the info that the instructor had given me. This morning, I got back a one-liner from the agent telling me that the instructor was wrong about which packager it was. Apparently, that's my rejection. Or is it? Maybe she was just telling me I misread the info. It doesn't matter to me which packager is involved, as long as their checks don't bounce. *grin* I am not sure I'd want to do it anyway, as I would want my name on the book(s) even if I didn't get royalties, but I thought I might as well send a sample. Well, we'll see. I'm hoping that was all she was doing, just straightening me out about who the packager is. Maybe she hasn't already read the stuff and dismissed the possibility of my doing this.
Maybe it Simply Isn't Done to keep talking to an agent who has rejected you. Maybe I will be an object of mockery, appearing to be begging at the doorstep of a boyfriend who has already spurned you. But I'm treating this like a business, and as far as non-publishing businesses are concerned, you can send in an application anytime there's a new job listing and it's all right. The worst they can do is trash it, right?
This particular book is not full of a lot of action, by the way. It's more an exploration of relationships and is character-driven. My heroine moves in an arc from being a superstitious person who feels her bad luck keeps her from doing or getting anything good to being someone who acknowleges that we make at least some of our own luck, and that we do have some control over our destinies. (Call it fantasy if you like. That's how people tell me it should be, anyway.) It's a funny book, but most of the action is interaction among the characters, rather than a lot of flying about the country or playing in football games or what-have-you. I think I might be doing it a disservice by marketing it as chick lit, because the heroine is pretty smart and isn't a ditz at all, whereas chick lit usually has a more naive heroine who doesn't do so much thinking. Despite the chicklitty tone, this could actually be women's fiction. Maybe my query is making them expect something different from what they get. Sure, it gets them to request the partial, but that's just a waste of paper and postage (when it's snailmail) as well as time, because it isn't the kind of book they're set up to expect via the query. Maybe the query implies a fast-paced romp.
I hate marketing. When I win the lottery, I'm going to hire a marketing clerk to do it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-05 09:36 am (UTC)Will add you to my reading list, as well.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-06 06:32 pm (UTC)