Friday, June 25, 2010

Day 29: No Writer's House

Semi-personalized rejection from Writer's House. Complexing context, interesting character, overall no go. I'm starting to think there's something wrong with the first chapters... Based on the comments, I don't think anyone's made it past chapter 14 yet... maybe the seeming-irrelevant-details-but-are-totally-clues-to-the-mystery's-solution need to be a bit more obvious.

I had a nagging thought yesterday after one of my... older friends (she's 35) read it and said that maybe my context is "too complex" for YA. I can't tell if she means I should try YA literary fiction or if I should put the book under Adult Mystery.
Either way, I hope it's not because she thinks teens and YA's aren't as smart as adults, because we very much are, thank you very much. Maybe not metaphysically, but logically, I'm pretty sure teens and adults have equally capacity...

Got another partial request. They want snail mailed partial. Need stamps... again. I think the bane of my existence is now stamps.

Good news: Lost my wallet the day before yesterday. Found it today. =)

Material Status:

Partial 1: 8 weeks (will nudge in a few days)
Partial 2: 21 day
Partial 3: 12 days
Partial 4: 11 days
Partial 5: 7 days
Partial 6: 7 days
Partial 7: not yet... stamps D:
Full 1: 20 days
Full 2: x
Full 3: 9 days
Full 4: 8 day

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Day 28: Waiting, TV and Homework

Loving the Gilmore Girls right now. Great source of stress relief.

Confession time: So I finally decided to query Writers House, and two weeks ago, I got a full manuscript request. It's been two weeks currently, and so far, I've heard nothing from them. Querytracker tells me that most people hear within 2 weeks, or if not, get either "revise and resubmit" or "so close but reject because the assistant quit on me".
I was pleased until five minutes ago, when I realized that they could have very well not received my email in the first place. My email was malfunctioning that day, I remember, as when I clicked "Save Draft" it told me "Message sent" (cue lots of screaming and cursing).
I really want Writers House, but I don't want to think about it anymore... Must watch more Gilmore Girls

Material Status:

Partial 1: 7 weeks (will nudge in 8 weeks)
Partial 2: 18 day
Partial 3: 9 days
Partial 4: 9 days
Partial 5: 4 days
Partial 6: 4 days
Full 1: 17 days
Full 2: 14 days
Full 3: 6 days
Full 4: 5 day

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Day 27: Back in school

Classes start tomorrow. Not sure if I'm suppose to have a roommate or not, but the apartment is empty for now. Got locked out yesterday because the manager didn't feel like coming to give me the key after I got off the plane. I ended up stranded outside, standing by myself for 30 minutes before a friend came to rescue me and feed me. Thank God for God and good friends.

Material Status:

Partial 1: 7 weeks (will nudge in 8 weeks)
Partial 2: 16 day
Partial 3: 7 days
Partial 4: 7 days
Partial 5: 2 days
Partial 6: 2 days
Full 1: 15 days
Full 2: 12 days
Full 3: 4 days
Full 4: 3 day

Dear Santa,

Please tell me somewhere in there is an agent who'd give me a change =(

Blanche

Friday, June 18, 2010

Day 26: Stamps again...

Why is the post office never open when I'm awake? Well, I'm fixing that today. I'm going to print and submit today for sure!

It's funny, as an artist, I use to worry about wasting paper all the time. I never used blank paper, or even new canvases. Everything was on the back of something (mostly homework) and my AP Art teacher even gave me all the old canvases people left behind (about 30-40). Heck, even the rough draft of my book was written on the back of old statistics and econ homework.


Material Status:

Partial 1: 6 weeks? (should probably nudge)
Partial 2: 14 day
Partial 3: 5 days
Partial 4: 5 days
Partial 5: ... hasn't sent out yet. (No stamps ._.)
Partial 6: ... hasn't sent out yet. (No stamps ._.)
Full 1: 13 day
Full 2: 10 days
Full 3: 2 days
Full 4: 1 day

Oh, and here's a painting I finished yesterday. The lighting's not great, but I thought I'd share.


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Day 25: Requests

Oh boy... so I need stamps now, because the last two agents who requested partials want snail mail packages. I'm also a little broke, being a college student and all. My parents are lending me a little for the process, but they're not exactly literary people and would rather I spend my time studying science instead of writing.

I ran my plot and theme against a professor of mine, and she said that if my book as a intricate as what I told her, there shouldn't be any problems on getting it published. The problem, she said, was that agents may not see the theme initially unless I tell them, so I should revise my query to state my point more clearly.

So I sent more (revised) queries out yesterday, mostly because the wait is killing me, and two came back this morning: one for a partial, one for a full, both for a synopsis.

So far...

Status

Queries sent: 38
Query Rejections: 19
Material Requests: 14
Waiting on: 5

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Day 24: To do list...

Things to get done before the end of next week:

1. Study for physics final.
2. Pack up dorm room and locate lost wallet.
3. Get some stamps and re-query Mr. R. (No stamps = no snail mail queries or partials)
4. Sign lease on apartment
5. Drop off wrongly graded chem lab for regrade
6. Make list of agents already queried
7. Debug friend's computer
8. E-mail agent with MIA partial
9. Stop querying and study for MCAT

Status

Queries sent: 35
Query Rejections: 13
Material Requests: 10
Waiting on: 12

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Day 23: More Requests...

Got another full request last night. I'm starting to wonder if I should re-query the first few agents I got material requests from. Thinking back, my book has changed a lot from what the first two agent read in my first martial.

One of these agents happens to be for a big agency, which thinking back, I probably shouldn't have queried until now. Yet, it was from those two rejections that several of these changes came to be, as in the story went from...

"quiet girl meets interesting smart guy, talk about their respective hobbies, fall in love, and through him, meets many interesting ghosts, and learns what it means to truly love someone."

to:

"former cheerleader runs into a nerd and engages in a competition of logic and trust with him over a set of disappearing ghosts. love ensues and so do evil spirits, and ultimately, everyone learns the vital importance of sharing information."

I wonder if I should re-query those first agents...

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Day 22: Tracking stats...

I'm currently procrastinating instead of studying for my chem final. Justine's blog gave me this idea.

Book: SftOS - 4 pieces of material out/ suppose to be out?

Partial 1: 5 weeks?
Partial 2: 1 day
Partial 3: ... hasn't sent out yet. (No stamps ._.)
Full 1: 1 day

Everything else usually came back in 1-3 weeks ._.

---

Dear Santa Claus,

This year for Christmas, I'd like an agent and a .5 GPA boost.

Sincerely,

Blanche

Friday, June 4, 2010

Day 21: More stuff...

Semi-personalize rejection from Nathan on partial. I'm not surprised or disappointed. =) He'll still be my favorite agent until I find one of my own.

Another full and partial request today/ yesterday respectively... I get about 1 email back a day...

Status

Queries sent: 35
Query Rejections: 13
Material Requests: 9
Waiting on: 13