This morning I was perusing Chuck Wendig’s awesome blog, the way I do every weekday morning.  As usual, it was freaking awesome.  In today’s post, he compared editors to MacGyver and the A-Team:

Then she gathers up the crumbled story-boulders and pages caught on cactus spines and she again mounts her steed and rides to the next ridge.  There she sits, alone.  For hours.  Maybe days.  Pulling pages apart.  Seeing what she has.  Shining a light into dark corners.  Finding sense.  Fixing errors.  Bringing sanity back to madness, chaos back to order, context back to content.  Her red pen dances bloodily upon the page.

And when the time is right, she rides again.

Anyway, I know that little tidbit references neither MacGyver nor the A-Team, but to find those two particular bits, go here.  Read the whole thing – it’s totally worth it, I promise you.  Guy knows his stuff.  Also?  He usually makes me laugh because he’s funny in a way I can’t quite describe.  Maybe that’s because I have a weird sense of humor, but maybe not.

So I got another rejection last week.  This one was from a small publisher in Georgia.  I’d discovered them through a connection made on Facebook and while I thought they seemed like a decent fit, they disagreed.  I got a polite form rejection one day last week (can’t remember which at the moment).  I’m surprised by how little rejection has bothered me thus far; I mean, I know that rejection comes with the territory in this writing gig, but I also know from some of the comments I’ve received over the last couple of years on authonomy that rejection hurts (I can’t believe it’s been almost two years since I signed up there!).  But at the same time, I’m committed to trying to get The Lokana Chronicles published traditionally.  All it takes is one yes.

That’s where my hope comes in.  I sent out a round of queries last month and, while the rejections are trickling back in, I’ve had a nibble.  “I’d like to see some more, please,” might turn into, “Please send me your complete manuscript,” which could in turn lead to, “We would really, really, really like to publish this!”  And that would make for one happy girl! 🙂  Right now, I’m still hoping that “I’d like to see some more, please,” will turn into, “Please send me your complete manuscript.”  We can move on from there.  It’s all about the baby steps, you see.  Baby steps and patience and possibly some tranquilizers.

And if nothing comes of this round of queries, I’ll send out another round once I’ve heard back from everyone I’ve already submitted to.  I’ll do more research in the meantime and I’ll keep writing and I’ll keep editing and I’ll keep working to make my book as market-ready as I can possibly make it.  I’ll work on submitting short stories for publication and try to build up my list of publishing credits because apparently I am a fantasy writer (if you had asked me what genre I would write as a teenager, fantasy would not have been my answer, but sometimes genre chooses you instead of the other way round).  I will keep working to make my dream a reality so that when I query agents, they want to represent me and when I query publishers, they want to take on my projects.  I want to have a long and distinguished writing career.  I want it all and I am determined to do what it takes to get there.

Wow, that sounds remarkably like a mission statement, doesn’t it?  It wasn’t exactly where I’d intended to go, but it is fitting.  I’d love to attend a conference one day, but I don’t think there are any conferences in Iowa.  I’ll have to research that, too.  I would bet the closest ones are either in Chicago or the Twin Cities, both places I’m scared to drive in.  Still, I’m sure it would be loads of fun and extremely educational.  Look out, savings account…

And now, back to work.  Happy Monday!

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Related articles

• How to Handle Rejection (terrywhalin.blogspot.com)
• Learning the Literary Ropes (answers.com)
• Don’t Give Up! The Road to Publication by Guest Author Margaret Moran (writingstraight.com)