Bad News, Good News

Bad news first: I got a rejection from the very nice agent who was reading Surviving Matewan. I am sad. So sad. Worse yet, to cheer myself up, I bought myself a pack of my favorite chocolate chip cookies and my shifty little hound mix (not Lucille the beagle!) ate the entire thing. In like ten seconds when I was on the phone and had my back turned.

The universe. It still laughs at me. Because seriously, it's one thing to get a rejection. That sucks, but it's all a part of being a writer and I get that. But if I'm going to get rejected, at least let me have some chocolate. But no, apparently I can't even get that.

So the good news, I bought myself a new package of cookies and I now have a request for a partial from another agent. This time though, I didn't freak out and celebrate. No, I calmly closed the e-mail and took my dog (the little evil cookie stealer) for a walk and then half-way around the block, started freaking out in celebration. Delayed reactions are fun.

Before I send off the partial though, I thought I'd try to improve the manuscript as best I can, because I'm getting a sense from my readers and from the agents that something's not working (besides the fact that the agents keep saying 'no', that's obviously a dead giveaway). Unfortunately, the agent who rejected my work this time didn't give me any feedback (sad, so sad), so I'm left to guess as to what the problem is.

Which is where my readers come in. I know I don't have many, but like Jimmy Hoffa and bigfoot, I know you're out there. Tomorrow I'm going to post the first few chapters of my book (don't worry, my chapters are short). If you all could give me your honest feedback, it's be greatly, greatly appreciated. Let's see if I can whip this manuscript into shape.