One thing I do pretty well, surly and happy mice, is bounce back. I'm already working a new angle on the new non-fiction book proposal and making traction with a new agent. Your loss, Agent 99, and the 98 who came before! (Actually, when I put it that way, I see something effed-up about my formula.) It's just not that personal. I once had lunch with this editor who'd passed up an insanely successful, pulitzer-prize-winning literary book. I asked her if she regretted letting the opportunity pass, and she said. "Naw, I just didn't like it that much!" I did hear the faint sound of "ka-ching, ka-ching" ringing somewhere behind her dead eyes, but she did seem to believe her own b.s. Whatever. They have their own formulas for success and they are working in a dying business, or so everyone says. It does occur to me that maybe after a while you stop feeling the blows so acutely when you are being pummeled. Not sure. But, anyway, onward! as
Howard Junker would say. Let's not let anything hold us back now.
15 comments:
Another reason why we think you are wonderful!
good thing that she passed on the award winner because she did not like it much.
Yes, go forth! Let your vibrant feathers unfold. :)
Glad that you are bouncing back.
Just received my tenth rejection in as many days, but I won't let the turkeys get me down. Onward, I say!
you'll sent out 1000 submissions then you'll get 10 "expectancy" (coined term)
it take a lot time work sending out.
Wait, why is it BS if an agent stayed true to her tastes and passed on a book that later turned out to be a prize-winner? People are allowed to disagree with prize committees last I checked.
Why do people write pablum-type remarks? If you don't have something of substance to say, don't type.
"branse" had a point to make. Nobody else did.
And what's with the glamour shots?
This site has lost it's vitality (which was often of a raw, combative nature, and I suppose you don't have the stomach anymore for that type of thing).
Anyway, I just want to say you're wonderful, and to go forth!
(Actually, I think you're an interesting person, and I wish you the best; I don't know if you're "wonderful," and I'm cynical enough about the state of publishing that I wouldn't advise anybody to "go forth.")
Calm down. It's just a moment if hope. Here's raw and combative for you: cut the bitchery. No one needs it right now.
At a certain point in a carrier glamour shots are done as move up to book publishing? I did understand
the " glamour shot" point
Speaking of Howard Junker, does ZYZZYVA still only read submissions from people on the west coast? I looked at their guidelines recently (the redesign looks great) but could no longer find the rule that submitters must live in a state on the west coast. Seems odd that they would open up the slush pile to everyone, they must get swamped with enough submissions as it is.
Sometimes you have to be a little crazy to keep escaping the suffocating fear of failure. Last night I was at the grocery store listening to hard rock - metal when suddenly (while staring at the chocolate offerings) into my head burst 'My Favorite Things' from The Sound of Music and I had to restrain myself from dancing down the aisle and breaking into song. I probably looked really shifty, but for a few minutes anything seemed possible. One of my favorite things is writing stories. The fear of failure will be crushed under my dancing feet...at least for today.
It's the anti-pablum guy again. The guy who doesn't like comments that are tweets.
Yes, I was mean-spirited to use direct quotes from the comments others made, and I should keep my annoyance regarding photos to myself.
"Me again" says that glamour shots are done as a move to get published. (Or I guess that's what he's trying to say.)
I wouldn't be surprised. If you're a pretty girl why not use it on randy old editors/agents/authors/professors.
But what if you're ugly, like me?
Anyway, w/r, nobody pointed out that you made a Freudian slip when you reprimanded me. You wrote, "if hope" when you meant "of hope."
But, actually, the question is if hope exists.
i and o are adjacent on the keyboard, let's not look for freudian slips in typos, dude.
as for branse's comment, i had the same question before but then i remembered that it was junot diaz whom the agent passed on, and w.r. is die-hard diaz fan girl. naturally, anyone who isn't impressed with diaz is a dead-eyed spouter of b.s.
excuse me while i apply some animating eye drops and pick cow excrement from my teeth.
Cabriolet is obviously, judging from his/her choice of words, the typical Diaz fan.
Excrement rules!
Please give out the name of the editor who didn't like Junot Diaz's work.
She may like my writing.
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