Positive Rejection

Last week I started writing a piece about rejection. I’d received a few query rejections. Two agents had passed on my full manuscript. Don’t get me wrong, I was crushed. But an agent I met at a conference sent one of the nicest letters to date, a hand-written note praising my writing. Letters like hers encourage me, make me determined to do whatever it takes to write the best novel I can and get it published.

No one loves rejection, but when I get an email back from an agent query or hear the slow tires of the mail truck, my pulse quickens. I don’t always run outside right away--mostly because I’m usually still in my pajamas! Sometime in the afternoon, I head to the mailbox. Finding a returned SASE is thrilling. It means I’m putting my work out there. Others are reading my work, even if they’re not convinced it’s “right for this agency.” Once, an agent requested the full via my SASE! “Love to see it,” she wrote. I might never receive another request in the mail. But, then again, I just might.

Fast forward. This week, I received two requests for full manuscripts. Better still: they were for two different books.

I’ve revised The Bodley Boys after receiving valuable feedback from critique partners and a few other trusted readers. I still love it. Maybe this will be the agent to champion it. And, if I’m lucky, an editor will, too.

Pamela and I started querying on our Center Court Seats and a Pair of Jimmy Choos and within two days we had a request. We knew when we read our chapters aloud to a critique group full of non-women’s fiction readers and they all laughed, we had something good. This might not be the one. But even if it isn’t, we know we’re getting close!

Book Recommendations

Lately I've been reading historical fiction. Something about the early 20th century has enthralled me and it seems every book I read and every movie I check out from Netflix is from that period in history.

There are two books I've read recently that I immediately reread. The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield and The House at Riverton, by Kate Morton. Diane Setterfield's tale is a cross between Rebecca and Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle, about an antiquarian bookseller's daughter and biographer who is asked by a reclusive, terminally-ill author to write the author's true life story--something she's lied about until now. If you like eery, family saga/tragedy, this is for you.

The House at Riverton is a cross between Elizabeth Jane Howard's, The Light Years, and Susan Minot's Evening. A convoluted family history, including two sisters, Hannah and Emmaline (curiously, The Thirteenth Tale also has a character named Emmaline), torn by their love of the same man, told from the perspective of Hannah's ladies maid. This book is so well-crafted that when I read it the second time, I gasped at how brilliantly she weaved the story.

Anyone else have any must-reads?

What's Next You Say

Three down: One under the bed, one in query-mode, one in final revisions. I'm pleased with my work. But what's next?

Lately I've been kind of antsy. And until a few days ago, I hadn't been able to figure out why. I haven't been writing anything new. I have a couple of ideas roaming around in my head plus a few things I started writing and put aside. But nothing has jumped out at me as the one. I've been considering a novel set in Highgate Hill Cemetery in Hampstead Heath outside of London. George Eliot's buried there. And so is Karl Marx. They ought to make for an interesting set of ghosts, right? However, if I attempt another novel in a cemetery my family and friends might start wondering about me. Then again, I think they already do.

Celebration

This weekend, a kind relative mentioned that I've been delinquent in my blogging. He's right. But I have a good reason; I've been fiendishly writing novels.

It's not quite time to pop THE bottle of champagne, but last night I celebrated two triumphs. The Bodley Boys is currently being read by an editor and three agents. YEA! And Pamela and I are one chapter away from finishing Center Court Seats and a Pair of Jimmy Choos. Okay, maybe I started celebrating early, but I finished MY last chapter! (no pressure, Pamela!) As soon as I emailed it to her, I called. I was shaking with excitement. It's good. It's really good, I screamed in her ear. (too confident, you say?!) This week, we're going to query an agent who was referred to us by a bestselling author!

What's next? It's time to start planning my fourth novel. Yes, fourth! Maybe someday soon I'll get paid for one of them! But hey, let's not let one minor detail hamper the celebration.

The Hard Part

When I first started writing seriously, I thought completing a book would be the most difficult part of the business. Sitting down every day, writing 1,500 words, not watching a movie on my laptop, not taking daily naps... Turns out, I’m a self-motivated writer. As Kingsley Amis wrote: “The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of one’s trousers to the seat of one’s chair.” I do this really well. Sometimes my family has to pry me away from my laptop or at least tempt me with chocolate or a movie (or both!) to see my face instead of the back of my head.

I completed my second manuscript, The Bodley Boys, in less than a year after deciding to write full time (thanks to my fantastic critique partners!) and my third manuscript, a collaboration with Pamela Hammonds, is past the half-way mark. (Did I mention Center Court Seats and a Pair of Jimmy Choos is really funny?)

Now comes the hard part. Sending my baby out. I’m fortunate to have met an editor at a recent conference who is interested in reading the manuscript. And wouldn’t it be incredible if she’d fall in love with it, snatch it up and offer me the name of a few agents she believes would also love my work? But, realistically, I need to query agents as well.

First I’ll approach the handful of agents who liked my query enough to request the full of The Cemetery Garden. Even though they all passed, they saw something in my writing they liked and hopefully they’ll recognize my name on a new query.

My friends and family have been so encouraging, it would be really nice to answer the question, “Have you sold a book yet?” with “Yeah, that was the easy part.”

Debut Novel

Hello all,

Fellow writer and Writers' Guild of Texas member, Maria Zannini, debuts her futuristic fantasty, Touch of Fire today. Let's all go online to get the e-book (tell your friends!) and pick it up in stores in December just in time for the holidays!

The cover is smoldering, check out the link: http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/touch-of-fire

Star Author

This post is way over due. The good news is that I've been diligently writing and will make my (new) deadline for finishing The Bodley Boys by May 1. And, my writing partner, Pamela, and I are progressing in our fun novel, Center Court Seats and a Pair of Jimmy Choos. We're cracking each other up and hope others will laugh too!

I'd like to share a story about my encounter with a star. About a month ago, while I browsed at the Barnes & Noble at NorthPark, an author autographed books at the center aisle. Interesting. I leaned over to see the name. Only the author of one of my favorite books, The Passion of Artemesia. I couldn't have been more excited if Emma Thompson or Meryl Streep had showed up. (George Clooney or Johnny Depp, another matter entirely).

After looking around to see if someone was playing a joke on me, I asked, "You're Susan Vreeland?" I blabbed something about how I loved her writing and she thanked me. We talked about her other books and she pointed me to a copy of The Forest Lover she'd just signed. Of course, I bought it. I wished her other three novels sitting at home on my bookshelf would miraculously appear in my hands for autographing.

On the way home, I called Pamela and screamed in her ear. Most people would have humored me and let me rant. But Pamela understood! I'd met a star author!

I wrote Ms. Vreeland a note a few weeks later, to tell her how much I enjoyed meeting her. She wrote back and wished me well with my own writing!

One day, if I get the chance to sign books at Barnes & Noble, I'll be kind and approachable too. I swear I will, just give me the chance!