Back from Brazil

My sojourn to Brazil is done and with it I came back with the conviction that Lost in Translation had to be rewritten. The more I view the manuscript the more it seems to me that it really is truly lacking in what it takes. The idea is still good, I think, but the execution was just not up to the standards that I need.

The question is: Am I good enough to make it good enough?

Who knows? All I know to do is to keep plugging away.

I haven't written much over the last two months, honestly. I was pretty drained after finishing the manuscript, then doing all the querying.

I am also not completely sure I will pick it right up again. Might try a little poetry to begin with and ease back into it. I have some general ideas about Lost in Translation, but nothing definitive.

In other words, I'm a bit lost about Lost. We'll see which direction it takes.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

Don't overlook Mary Oliver

If you want to learn about writing, from the process to the muse, you should delve into some of the books written by Mary Oliver, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her poetry.

This woman has produced some of the most beautiful and meaningful poetry I have ever read. But she has written several books about writing, too, and it turns out that those are just as passionate as her poetry.

I own two of her books which are instructive for more than those who write poetry.

A Poetry Handbook is a wonderful book that doesn't read like a textbook, though it sounds like one. It should be read by everyone who wants to be a writer.

The other book: Rules for the Dance, is a bit more technical, but if you want to understand how poetry is written it is truly insightful.

I don't write good poetry, but I still try to do so sometimes and maybe I will get better. It is just one more way of expressing yourself through the written word.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

Perseverance

A friend asked me today about my writing and I told him the sad truth: Novel No. 2 is getting far less attention than Novel No. 1 when I expected just the opposite.

I was clear that I didn't really know what to do.

"Are you going to keep trying?" he asked me.

Well, yeah, because to do otherwise is just to give up essentially and I'm not keen on doing that. Still it is a lot of work that I face and it is not much fun. Never let anyone tell you that writing isn't hard work. I've never known anyone for whom it came easy.

So I keep on, but I've now put aside any decision until I return from a trip on July 28. I cannot do anything before then anyway.

Besides, I'm a born procrastinator.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

Two novels

I just finished reading Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. If you haven't read it, I urge you to do so. I urge you to read any and all of her books actually, though I've only read three myself. I intend to read them all over the next few years.

I went from Morrison to Karl Marlantes, who wrote the new best-seller Matterhorn, which is hot right now. Reading some of the reader reviews I was struck by the number of people who used the word "art" to describe the novel.

I like the book so far - only about 75 pages into it - but I would not describe it as art. Those people should read Morrison if they want to experience art.

I think I will end up recommending Marlantes' novel, but it isn't in the same league as any of the Morrison books I've read. That, my friends, is art.

Two things I WILL NOT do

The first is that I am NOT going to self-publish. No matter what. If the experts don't think I can bring in enough money to pay for the effort, I'm not going to test that opinion. I have - and will - put in the effort to write, but I'm not going to spend the money, too.

Second, I will NOT do a John Kennedy Toole.

Toole wrote "A Confederacy of Dunces," which is a hilarious book and I love it, but he couldn't get it published.

So he offed himself in despair.

His mother kept the dream alive and eventually got it published.

I am not in despair from all these rejections and I suppose one of the points of this blog is that, if anyone happens across it, to not fall into that hole, either.

Publishing is certainly nice and I desire it, but the writing is what matters.

Oh, a third thing I will not do. I will not make a collection of my columns (which would almost certainly mean self-publishing anyway).

If you want to self-publish, I'm not criticizing that, it just isn't for me.

However, if you are thinking of jumping in front of a truck because you can't get published, my firm advice would be against it.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

Molly Friedrich gave it her best

I got this rejection today from Molly Friedrich today. A form rejection, but still a little different:


Dear Author,

Well, it's finally happened: after over thirty years of answering every query letter that has ever come my way, I've been forced to finally acknowledge that a new era is upon us all. Before the arrival of e-mail submissions, I used to receive perhaps one hundred queries a week. That was a lot of queries but it wasn't frankly unmanageable. The Friedrich Agency now receives more than twice that on a daily basis and it's becoming impossible to attend to much of anything else! I'm so sorry for the impersonal response, I hate to do this. Writing a good book or a good proposal is among the hardest things in the world to do; I promise, we're not unsympathetic! You have our word that we are reading every single query letter that comes our way, but from now on, we're only responding personally if we're sufficiently curious and would like to read further. Please don't take offense at this Draconian measure-- there is undoubtedly a wonderful agent out there for whom your book might just be the perfect match. Toward that end, we wish you all the best!

Take care,

Molly Friedrich

So at least she tried to answer all the letters personally. I give Molly a thumb's up for effort but not two thumbs up because it was, after all, a rejection. Besides, I have a daughter named Molly and I am predisposed to think highly of all of them.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

Rejections march on

Got a few more rejections - of the form variety - over the last few days. Since these all come from emailed queries I'm not sure how many more I can expect. Some agents don't respond to emails if they aren't interested.

So my decision looms ever closer about what to do with this novel. I do NOT want to just jettison this story and I can't see myself doing that. None of the choices are easy, though, and none of them guarantee success, or even make it remotely more certain.

Some great agent out there could make this easy on me.

Nah, I didn't think so.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

When rejections are priceless

Most of us don't have the money to have our manuscripts read by an editor, or at least read by an editor who could really add to our chances of getting an agent or getting published.

So that's why it helps to be "lucky" enough to get rejected by some agents who will tell you a bit about why they didn't go for your work.

I recently got a rejection from Liz Jote of Objective Entertainment. Liz had this to say:

Dear Phil,

Thanks for the look, but I think this is going to be a pass for me. Unfortunately, though I thought the plot was intriguing, the narrative didn't grab me as much as I would have hoped.

I sent Ms. Jote a number of pages - I think 50 - to look at. This gave her something by which to judge my writing.

So the narrative sucks, huh? Well this is important. She likes the plot, but my execution of the plot turned her off.

Invaluable, I tell you. I wish all rejections came with just one line, but then most don't ever read your work, just your query letter.

This rejection, though, made my day.

Yours in rejection,

Phil