Month: November 2009

Other People’s Happy Moments

| rachelhamm

That’s what pops up on my laptop screen when it falls asleep.

You see, for some reason, I have my screen saver set to play a slideshow of my iPhoto gallery.  So whenever I step out of the room for five minutes and come back, there are pictures of weddings looping over and over on the screen.  Now, were I also happily married, I’m sure I’d ooh and aah at each successive picture, and hey, sometimes I do.  But not lately.  Lately, it’s just depressing.

What is it about looking at other people’s happy moments that makes me want to stick a pencil in my ear and jiggle it around?

The fact that it has never been me?  Or the fact that it will never be me?

Or both?

 

On a happier note, NANO is going really well for me.  I have seven chapters written already and 11,381 words!  Not bad for day six!  I posted my first chapter on TNBW and it’s gotten really positive feedback so far.  I know the TNBW-ers well enough to know they don’t give false praise… at least not all the time 🙂

I guess that’s a happy moment, right?  I should take a snapshot of my reviews and upload it to my iPhoto gallery.  Not exactly the same as a happy shot of a bride and groom smashing cake in each others’ faces, but it will have to do for now.

 

Oh, I got my second rejection from an agent yesterday!  🙂  I’m really feeling good about it.  More letters going out today!

 

Oh, and on the financial trouble front, I’m looking for a new job.  I told one of my bosses yesterday.  I don’t know if I’m going to be able to find one, but I wanted to be upfront with my boss about it.  I don’t really want to quit either of my jobs, but I can’t keep going on the way things are.

 

So, yeah, now you know what a basketcase I am…

1 Down, Probably a Million or So to Go

| rachelhamm

Hamm-Marlor-260

Just got my first, very kind, rejection from an agent.

No real comments on the letter or premise itself, just that the agent didn’t think they were the right agent for my book.

Oh well.

Part of the business.  It does kind of make me feel more like a writer now that I’ve felt the first bitter sting of rejection.  Wow, I’ll never get published if I keep writing cliches like that!

So, now my new goal is to send out one new query for every rejection I get in!  Off to send one right now!

Holy Crap!

| rachelhamm

Holy crap, I just submitted my first query letter to an agent.

Holy crap.  I hit the send button and immediately a wave of panic came over me.  I’m seriously attempting to get an agent for my book?  It’s too long.  It doesn’t have a unique plot.  Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap.

I can’t believe I hit the send button.  No going back, now, though.  I read through the agents blog for a while before I sent the letter.  I made sure I only sent what the agent asked for.  But now it’s a waiting game.  I’m glad my goal for November is just one a day.  If I have a panic attack every time I hit the send button there’s no way I can do more than one a day.

I know the likelihood of getting requests for pages or partials or (holy crap!) the full ms is slim, especially for the first couple of letters I send out, but the thought of rejection is still incredibly scary.  But, on the bright side, most successful authors are rejected a ton of times before they get an agent or a publisher.  So…

Let the rejection begin!