Good Monday Morning gentle readers. You may ask why last week and now today I have been using baseball jargon for my post titles. Well, you see, it's easy, my beloved Red Sox are three games behind first place. Now as some of you may know, or not, the Red Sox have this crazy way of starting out slow at the beginning of the season and then after the All-Star Game they usually rally to get into the play offs. Well, most of the time anyway.
I liken this to my own writing. I started off slow, and then, after many, many practices and games, I rallied and ended up in the All-Star games. I queried and had some partials requested. Now, I'm trying to head for the play offs. Trying to get published. It's a lot of hard work, a lot of practice but without practice how can you get good? (LOL don't hate me for my word choices.)
Anyway, last week, Ed said something in my comments that struck a chord deep, deep down inside me, and I took it as a sign. He said:
"rejections suck. have a space in your home to feel the rejections, preferably over the waste basket, and then release that crap."
Now I have had all the queries and all the rejections sitting in my inbox because with Monster Baby, well, I tend to lose my mind and I like to keep track of these things. After Ed's response I went directly to said inbox and dumped them all in the trash and deleted them from the mailbox completely.
You know why, because all that questioning, negative energy was blocking all the good, factual energy that was trying to get into the inbox. Hence, the question from the new agent about what kind of work I was doing. She was confused at what I wrote. And I don't blame her. My inbox was sending mixed messages. So now with all that negative, questioning energy released, I hope I've given some new ju-ju into the universe. And I think it worked because at 8:46pm Saturday night she requested the first 50 pages. (Okay, let me just say this again-- 8:46pm Saturday night. I think I'm in love with this woman that she'll work on a Saturday night.)
So thank you Ed for your sage advice. I should have known it myself as I know about Karma and the Universal Mind and believe in things too weird to mention here. You have the heart of a poet and the wisdom of the ages in your soul.
Now, to you my dear, fellow queriers, take Ed's advice, dump the rejections in your inbox out. Release the negativity. Of course you may need to write down the names of the agents who have rejected you so you don't re-query them, but keep that list away from your computer. You don't want to fool around with negative energy. The farther away it is, the better off you'll be.
I would also like to take this time to say a formal apology to Roland Yeomans from Writing in the Crosshairs. Now if you don't know Roland, please go and give him some love. If you do know him, you know that he's been in the query trenches for awhile now, with his book French Quarter Nocturne. (If you haven't read his excerpts yet, go NOW) In my haste to get the awards blog out Saturday morning (before my computer shut down for the day) I added several names to the Sure Fire Winner Award -- and I forgot Roland. I cannot believe I did it, I feel terrible, like the biggest jerk-face in the universe. Is a complete brain implosion a good enough excuse? So Roland, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave you off the list and I'm glad Christi remembered you.
Wednesday I will be posting the latest excerpt from REMEMBERING YOU, my little saga of Genna & Tony. I hope you'll come back for it.
Have a great week, get some work done, and release the negative!!!
31 comments:
Hey Anne, I'm a Red Sox fan, too! My step-dad was from Rhode Island.
I'd be happy to pass the award along to Roland. He's in my crit group anyway.
I'm so happy to hear you're getting your fire back, chickadee. I did manage to finish a chapter over the weekend and start a new one. Another 7,000 words and I'm good to go! Now I just need to get around to it... :-)
Way to go on getting back that fire Anne!!! Good luck to those Red Sox!
Have a wonderful writing week!!! Negative thoughts have left the building!
Great idea getting those rejections off the computer...they don't need to be around messing up the forward progress. And congrats on the partial request - so exciting!
In the trash! Gone! Yipee. As my friends say to me, 'Next.' Next is your excerpt. Looking forward to Wednesday.
Someone once told me, "It's okay to sit on the pity potty, but then you have to get up and flush it."
:)
Ted -- Funny how the world is so small nowadays.
Christi -- Go You! That book will be finished in no time!
Jen -- Have to try and get something finished anyway. Or at least 3 more scenes.
Susan -- Yeah, the negativity has to go.
Lynn -- Next!!!
Lydia -- I SO love that comment! And thanks for all your help on your blog this morning.
I so agree...learn what you can from them and then get rid of them. You only want good writing energy around you :)
As I read this, I realized I have done the same thing! I've only submitted short fiction to literary mags and contests, but I've kept the email rejections. Why? I have no good answer. I have an online submissions tracker with my Writing.com account, so all the documentation regarding names of mags, editors, dates submitted/rejected, etc. is there. Why keep the actual rejections? Why hang onto the negative vibes?
I know better than that, too. And yet, I do the same thing.
Maybe it's a newbie thing. You know, I feel like a "real" author if I have actually correspondence from an industry insider? But, maybe it's time to admit I don't need confirmation that I'm an author. Maybe, I'm beyond that now.
Off to do some deleting.
Thanks for the inspiration, both you and Ed!
Hope your week is awesome!
Love the idea of dumping the rejection letters, releasing the negative!
Glad to see you holding your chin up! I've never held on to rejection letters, so letting them go is a great idea!
~JD
That was wise advice - glad you dumped all that negative.
Jaydee -- It's such a simple thing really.
Nicole -- Yeah, I knew better too. You're right, it must be a newbie thing. Validation of some sort.
Betty -- Ed's right, I mean what's the point in keeping them.
Justine -- Glad you're here. I've seen you all over the place and I've been meaning to get over to your place. No more excuses. Welcome.
Alex -- Besides, they were taking up too much of my storage space in the mailbox. I feel so much better.
What a good idea. I've still got an inbox full of rejections. I don't know what's holding me back but maybe I should dedicate a day to cleaning the thing out. thanks!:)
woo hoo! good idea, Anne :D i hope this will kick-start nothing but goodness in your direction!!
Deep breath, exhale, all negative energy that has been building in me since last week is now gone. Too bad it's not that simple, it would sure be nice if it was.
Congrats on the agent asking to see 50 pages of your book. Whoooo Hooooo! I will be praying that she wants to see more.
And I didn't feel forgotten. Not to worry.
I keep my rejections just to let me know who's responded and who hasn't yet. I am stronger for walking against resistence. I need my pain. It sculpts who I am. I will not forget it but embrace it, knowing I am the stronger for enduring it and moving on.
Only success for all of us, Roland
Karma's a fickle beast! :)
Good luck to you. That's cool that she requested your pages (and on Sat. night, wow).
That's such a great and sagely advice. :)
And good luck!
i'm so glad that spoke to you. some people keep all those rejection letters in a drawer, and want to have them to show off when they get their book published. i couldn't do that. i kept looking at them and knowing they were there.
i do think creative types can get hurt with rejections piling in through the mail. been there. now i self publish and love it. that's me, though.
good energy is like sunshine. without it, how would us creative types grow? boo the clouds that block our good energy.
glad to help. glad to be here. i admire your resilience.
Anne,
I dump those rejections as soon as they arrive! Well, I read them slowly to make sure they're stupid enough to say no, then I hit delete!
I'm impressed by the # of people who are asking to see more of your work. That is always encouraging.
That's some great advice and congrats on the request...on a Saturday night! I hope for you that it keeps going well!
CQG -- I have GOT to find out your name. Yes, do it, dump those rejections. It makes you feel good, like they don't matter and you can concentrate on the new ones.
Tahereh -- From your lips to God's ears.
Patti -- Just keep breathing. It does work even if it's not simple.
Roland -- Interesting way to look at it but I can't. I have to let go of the negative.
DL -- Actually I heard she's a bitch.
LR -- And on Saturday night too! Crazy!
Sandy -- Fantastic advice. Thanks.
Ed -- And now they're gone, out with the trash. And I won't be keeping them anymore. They just take up space.
Lisa -- I hope it's encouraging. I just got some preliminary feedback from another beta. She thinks she knows wherein the problem lies. And I do too. Now I either have to fix it or give up.
Words -- Thanks. Best piece of advice I've ever gotten.
WOOHOOO!! That is indeed a committed agent, working on a Saturday night. I hope she see's what we all see.
Also, I LOVE Ed's advice, and even more how you took it and ran with it.
(Fix it...never give up!)
See you Wednesday right here. :)
Love,
Lola
Congrats on finding your positive energy and on the agent's request. Good things, baby, good things. :) Only the best for you. And I'll be waiting for more of Genna and Pete/Tony. :)
Congrats on the request for pages! Is it for masquerade?
Sorry I've been MIA. My Internet connection has been up and down for days (I'm formulating an angry blog post about it right now).
I'm glad you're getting your fire back. Mine's still smoldering (at best). :)
Hi Anne!
I dump the negative stuff as soon as it comes in. (Unless it has suggestions.) The positive stuff I read over and over and over and over....
Oh! Congrats on those 50 pages! :D
Hi Anne. This post struck such a chord with me - I too believe in things perhaps too weird to mention in blog world! I think getting rid of the negative to welcome the positive is a huge thing, a big release,and I am so glad things are rebalancing for you. So impressed with the new agent requesting more on a Saturday night - and go you! That is fab news she wants more to read. Good luck!
Lola -- I've had a few perfect agents before but I love this one. Working on Saturday night, yeah baby!
Sarah Jayne -- Big changes coming Genna's way.
Terry -- My internet is going crazy from the heat. It's been 100 here for the last week.
Wendy -- MY problem is that I never receive any positive stuff, it's always for rejections.
Glam -- Thanks. They're in your hands now.
Jayne -- I'm just praying the rebalancing is enough to make it work this time. We'll see.
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