My Day for Rejections

  This must be my day for rejections.  Both rejections were nice, personal letters rejecting my work.  (Have to remember they aren’t rejecting me—just my books.)

The first came earlier this morning.  An agent who’d requested a full of SOUTHERN COMFORTS.   

The positives -- You create the setting beautifully and really bring the inn to life. Overall, this is a good read, but I'm not convinced that it will break out of the pack.  I'm sorry to keep you waiting only to disappoint you. You have a lot of talent and have had a good bit of success.

The negatives – sometimes the characters came across as unsympathetic and the romance floundered.

TIME ELAPSED:  Initial query to final rejection – 4 ½ months.  Only 3 weeks after she received the full.  And she apologized for the delay.  That was nice.

The second rejection came this afternoon.  An editor who had RESTORING MITCH’S HEART.

The positives -- I like your writing, which is light, charming, capable of conveying warmth. The characters are appealing, too—especially Tierney and her dad.  Even though this story isn’t working for us, I definitely think your writing has potential. I wish you all the best with it!

The negatives – Sharing the house may be too much of a forced conflict.  Public proposal maybe too cliché.  And the slight paranormal threw the editor off.

TIME ELSPASED: Initial submission to rejection – 12 ½ months, but she warned me it would be a long time.  Back in February, I sent a revised partial because I’d made quite a few changes.  She also apologized for the delay – very nicely.

The editor said she would be willing to look at it again if I revised.  Sigh… 

I am in the process of revising Mitch’s story, but not along the lines of her suggestion.  It’s hard to know when to chuck a project, especially when you’ve spend so much time with the characters.   When I look at my log, I think this is my fourth revision.  A couple of revision passes were because I was actually learning my craft.  (The first draft was definitely a head-hopping nightmare.)

I actually have this manuscript out to two other editors.  We’ll see what happens.

Update on querying.  This includes my contest requests and conference submissions.

Total Submitted Through Queries				13
Total Submitted Through Contests				1
Total Submitted through Conferences				6
				20
Rejections				11

I should be querying more – but I keep submerging myself in revisions.

When do you give up on a manuscript?