It's official!

My novel got it's very first rejection letter in the mail. That was quick and dirty.

What? You thought someone wanted to see more? Not yet. Three more queries are still out in limbo.

It's funny. I saw my SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope) in my mailbox and got super nervous. Hands shaking and shit. The weird part? I think I was more nervous that they would want to see more than the thought of straight up rejection. This may sound funny and counter to the fact that I really do want people to read what I write (and love it). I know I've mentioned this before, but my writing is the most me I can be. So, to share me with so many people is scary. Basically, it's easier to be rejected by one, than by a whole readership.

So, you want to know more about this rejection letter, right? Well, it's printed on high class off white paper that has the water mark firmly in the center. It has a classy letterhead with a super cool agency font. It is very tactful, and a form letter in every way. While I will not say who it is from, I will transcribe the body of the text into this blog to show yo what I mean. The type in red indicates my remarks. Here it is below:

Dear Author,

(I read it at least three times before I realized they didn't even put my name on it. However, and I quote, they called me an "Author". Hey, I'll take it!)

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to look at your work.

With PERSON'S NAME full client list, she can only take on projects that are an absolutely perfect

fit and I'm afraid this isn't it.

(Not exactly sure how to take this, and I would read into it a lot more if it wasn't an obvious form letter; having little to do with whether it's style/idea/writing that isn't absolutely perfect. BUT without reading ANY of my story, it can't be my writing or style. Hell, it may not even be my idea, it may just have been they didn't like my query or I didn't summarize a novel well in less than two pages)

Thank you for sending us your query, and best wishes for you project's success.

Sincerely,

ANOTHER PERSON'S NAME

On behalf of PERSON

(The agent I was interested in most likely didn't even see my query. This other person didn't think it was a fit. I wish I had known about OTHER PERSON, to see what she is interest in too.)

Needless to say, this may be a very tricky process. However, there is still a bunch of hope. I only need one agent, not four (or however many I end up sending out).

End of the Year - Minimum Word Count Goal

I have played with the numbers and came up with, what I believe to be, a realistic word count goal.

Here's the "math"

(minimum) 500 words per day X (minimum) 6 days per week X (approx) weeks left in the year = (minimum) 52,080 words

I expect to try (for the first time ever) NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). From what I gather, to succeed, one must write 50,000 words in November. I will be on a cruise that last week in November, so we'll see how that goes.

Is it possible?

A) To reach my minimum goal -- with ease. I can crank out 500 words in less than an hour. I just lose focus and get distracted.

B) NaNoWriMo -- apparently it is. Some people write well over 50,000 in the month, so if they can write well over, I should be able to do it in three weeks, technically.

I will keep #WordCountWednesdays going strong on twitter. I am already well prepped to beat out last weeks word count if I just keep up what I've done yesterday and today.

Writing Contest

So, today on my Twitter feed, @WritersDigest informed me of the Pop fiction writing contest. So I thought:

A) What a great way to get my name out there - WIN the contest

B) I could use a section from my sequel novel and people will read it, love it, and want to read the novel

C) I know the perfect part to include

D) I need to write this perfect part

E) Parts of novels can be made into short stories - Ralf Ellison's "Battle Royal" From Invisible Man

F) 4,000 words? I can write that in a week or two

G) Can I make this list as long as the alphabet

H) Do I want to? (make it as long as the alphabet)

I) Challenge accepted.

J) If I win the whole thing, I get to go to NYC to the Writer's Digest Conference

K) And win $$$$

L) I really just want people to read my stuff

M) But, I would like to go shopping

N) Maybe I'll have an agent by then

O) Maybe my first novel will be in the process of being published by then

P) Maybe I'll still need both and it'll be a good opportunity to meet said people

Q) Or, I may not have either nor win

R) Quiet the negative thinking

S) I can do this (make it to the end of the alphabet)

T) I have lots of random thoughts

U) I should be writing this story/novel part

V) I should read the official contest rules

W) Read the rules, they retain one time publishing rights. Works for me.

X) I shouldn't have made the second cup of coffee
Y) Hazelnut coffee = so good though

Z) Sorry for the randomness (Sorry you read it - unless you're amused, then you're welcome)

I wish I could draw/paint/do any sort of visual art

I want to see the world I'm creating. I want to show it to others. I know, I know. I'm doing it through words. I can see it in my head. It's beautiful. It's alien. It's unique (?). It's familiar. Maybe some day, someone will paint it, do a charcoal rendition of it, or water colors perhaps. I will happily post these pictures on my blog. Someday, I will share my fan art with the world.

It's out of my hands.

The queries I had to mail are in the hands of the USPS now. I was no joke fighting tears on the way to the Post Office. Scary Stuff. It's my first real baby. I have sent a few short short stories, but it's not the same. This was a longer gestation period than a human baby, and I had to piece together the DNA bit by bit. Creator. I love it. I want to live in it. I am it.

I'm excited about "Book 2". It's way more fun than the first one, in terms of writing it. It's also harder, I think. I'm making even more up. Well basically a whole World with it's people, customs, traditions, landscapes, technology and such. Super awesome! I'm trying to immerse myself in this, so that I don't freak out for the next months(?) about how these agents will respond to me. Can't dwell in what I have no control over.

Email Queries Sent

First round queries out today and tomorrow. Since the Post Office is closed today, the snail mail ones have to wait a day.

In case you're wondering: I am a nervous wreck. So much so, that I'm sure one of the agents I sent a query to will reject me plainly because I didn't follow exact protocol. What did I do? I sent it to the wrong email address. I had the correct one written down, but typed it incorrectly. One would think that it just would get lost in cyberspace, never to be read or answered. But no, I immediately got an out of office reply to bring light to my error. It inadvertently was another one of her email addresses, just not the query one. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I don't have that one written down anywhere, just happened to be bad luck. I have corrected my mistake, but now the email has been sent twice - doah.

I've been slacking on my writing this weekend. The hubs and I went out Thursday night with friends, Friday the dogs had to go to the vet- poor Alex hates her temperature being taken, and Saturday I got The Hunger Games DVD! So, I have to play some catch up.

#WordCountWednesdays

Yesterday, I thought up a new(?) concept: #WordCountWednesdays. The thought behind it is every Wednesday I will post my weekly word count on Twitter. As anyone who reads this knows, I started the sequel novel (to the book I'm about to send queries out for) on Tuesday. This is my way of holding myself accountable (to everyone) for working on it. It would be a lie if I didn't admit to being extremely distractable. My Pinterest account doesn't help that, nor does Facebook, Twitter, this blog or Yahoo news.

Anyway, I invite everyone interested to join me for #WordCountWednesdays. I am just including words I write for the novel but feel free to count any and all words you want to. I would love to make a cool graphic for everyone to post and share and shit. Sadly, I have no graphic artistic abilities. I invite anyone who is interested to make a graphic for us all. I will blog, Tweet, and Facebook about how great you are if you do.

I'm @tinarazz on Twitter, for those of you who want to follow. You can follow my blog to, I know I have a lot more page views. Go ahead, make it official.