My title just morphed to Arabic, but it seems appropriate, so I'm leaving it.
Thursday is the day for my Digression penance… and it seems to me I need it about now. Favorite digressions? Cross dressing and nudity (obviously)
This may not surprise anybody, but sometimes I have a hard time refraining from things that are a bad idea. I don’t like things being out of my control, so I am inclined to press matters, even if I KNOW pressing is only going to force the solution I don’t want. Sometimes pressing serves me well—I’m sure I’ve gotten jobs this way. Sometimes, not so much. So today I am digressing, in an attempt to keep from pestering people.
Why?
I am playing the waiting game on queries. Enough out that I don’t want to send more just yet, too soon to give up, ominous silence…
My first round—pre-shortening, I sent out a total of six queries before receiving the excellent advice that CONFLUENCE was too long. I got back nice speedy form rejections in at least half the cases, and slower form rejections in the others. Only one didn’t respond.
Then there was the hiatus on querying while I shortened. August 11, I began sending a new batch—13 in all. One responded quickly that the agent wasn’t taking any new clients (wasn’t on her website, but hey, I’m sure it isn’t the first time this has ever happened, and at least it wasn’t personal). Tuesday I got a rejection from a boutique agency that I’d figured was a long-shot, but she amuses me, so I’d tried. Eleven are still out there, and so I wait. It’s only just over two weeks on the first half, and only eight days on the final two, but still, I have ants in my pants. A very good reason not to wear pants, I’d say.
So to distract myself, I am pondering this important question…
To snail, or not to snail.
In my first round, all were eQueries. It seemed so much more earth friendly, and I had a bunch of shopping to do before I could really think about the snail mail variety, so anyone who said snail mail only, I put on hold. This round, I did 6 eQueries and 7 snail mail, and you know what? Snail mail feels significantly more substantial. It feels official in some way pressing ‘send’ doesn’t.
I know I read differently on screen than hard copy—I give a hard copy more attention. I think from here on out, anyone who gives me a choice will get the snail (I know that will please Mari, though because she likes snails almost as much as slugs and giraffes, not because she is enamored of the US Postal System).
This may not surprise anybody, but sometimes I have a hard time refraining from things that are a bad idea. I don’t like things being out of my control, so I am inclined to press matters, even if I KNOW pressing is only going to force the solution I don’t want. Sometimes pressing serves me well—I’m sure I’ve gotten jobs this way. Sometimes, not so much. So today I am digressing, in an attempt to keep from pestering people.
Why?
I am playing the waiting game on queries. Enough out that I don’t want to send more just yet, too soon to give up, ominous silence…
My first round—pre-shortening, I sent out a total of six queries before receiving the excellent advice that CONFLUENCE was too long. I got back nice speedy form rejections in at least half the cases, and slower form rejections in the others. Only one didn’t respond.
Then there was the hiatus on querying while I shortened. August 11, I began sending a new batch—13 in all. One responded quickly that the agent wasn’t taking any new clients (wasn’t on her website, but hey, I’m sure it isn’t the first time this has ever happened, and at least it wasn’t personal). Tuesday I got a rejection from a boutique agency that I’d figured was a long-shot, but she amuses me, so I’d tried. Eleven are still out there, and so I wait. It’s only just over two weeks on the first half, and only eight days on the final two, but still, I have ants in my pants. A very good reason not to wear pants, I’d say.
So to distract myself, I am pondering this important question…
To snail, or not to snail.
In my first round, all were eQueries. It seemed so much more earth friendly, and I had a bunch of shopping to do before I could really think about the snail mail variety, so anyone who said snail mail only, I put on hold. This round, I did 6 eQueries and 7 snail mail, and you know what? Snail mail feels significantly more substantial. It feels official in some way pressing ‘send’ doesn’t.
I know I read differently on screen than hard copy—I give a hard copy more attention. I think from here on out, anyone who gives me a choice will get the snail (I know that will please Mari, though because she likes snails almost as much as slugs and giraffes, not because she is enamored of the US Postal System).
7 comments:
*snort*
Speaking of the US Postal System - I can't for the life of me find a post office here... I need to send a package and some postcards, but where to snail them from? I suspect I might have to deliver them myself, which certainly would be sluggish...
Anyway, YAY for digressionary (Arabic) penances, and good luck with the snail mails (and the giraffy ones as well). I know it's a tough wait, but I also am 100% sure that you will get there eventually.
*is just glad his mailround is 3000 miles away*
I think it's a good idea to clutter up some desks. Email is really easy to delete.
Have you thought about going directly to a publisher? That's what I did. (And got lots of rejections for my trouble. But then...)
Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
Looking in from the other side, I think snail is the way to go. I went into office yesterday after a four week break, found two annual reports on my desk, both of which I read (or at least flipped through). The ones I get by e-mail have just been flagged off to read whenever.....
BTW- I love the title - though I would be damned if I knew what it says
Note: Title is apparently HINDI lettering (*pokes Rayna*), not Arabic... And it says Digressionary...
Mari--you should be able to buy stamps just about anywhere--grocery or whereever, but to actually mail a package you need either a post office or a mail boxes etc. or something. You should be able to get a map of them via computer though.
Elizabeth--on directly to publishers... I think if you have a genre fic with a strong following you can get away with it--Romance, Mystery, Sci-Fi, or fantasy--all of them have dedicated reader followings and don't need quite the same level of promotion. Commercial though, you have to have seriously negotiated placement and stuff, that I've heard is nearly impossible without an agent. Publishers just tend not to do that end of it. [and ALL of this is hearsay, but it rings true intuitively, since genres all have their 'section'.
Not Hindi, Tamil, which is about a thousand words older. Fitting, because that is the language my ancestors were speaking in ever since they came down from the trees (I don't read or write the language though :-( )
Perhaps we were all happier pantless.
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