I heard back from Samhain regarding Forever Home. They said no. In a form letter. With no explanation as to why they said no.
Of course getting a rejection hurts, especially when I love this story, more than Sweet Forever even. But it happens. I can handle it. It's the fact that I got a generic form letter is what bugs me. I have two books with Samhain, they've been fantastic to work with, but I'd think they'd give their authors a more personal note. I'm not looking for them to give the manuscript a second chance, but I'd like to know why they said no.
Am I asking too much?
So, here I am, two manuscripts that are ready to go (though I'll have to tweak FH so it'll work as a stand alone instead of being a sequel). I don't know, at this point if I should resubmit to Kensington, or submit That Kind Of Magic to Samhain, or try another publisher all together.
It's put my new writing on hold.
So, I've got some thinking to do today. Got lots to do so I'll be out and about for most of the day, but I'll do my mental pros and cons list on this.
I'm feeling completely and utterly frustrated! I'm feeling bored with my current wip so, upon recommendation, should find something else to work on. Problem is I'm not "into" any of my wips. Maybe I'm just needing a bit of a writing break. I hate taking breaks though. I want to write through it, but when I'm in this frame of mind I'm too easily distracted. So, maybe I'll give myself today to rest and plunge in tomorrow with something. But what, I don't know. My "problem" is that I have several wips that I can work on, wips that have lots of potential if I could just get going on them. Maybe hypnosis would work. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On the submission front: No word from Samhain yet regarding Forever Home. Wish I would hear back because I can't submit anything else to them while I have something already submitted. And then there's Kensington. Kensington Kensington Kensington. I discovered that the editor I submitted That Kind Of Magic to left Kensington in February and apparently didn't hand off to anyone else. Who knows what happened to it. I have an email into another editor to find out for sure, but I'll probably have to resubmit it, and that means ANOTHER 3 month wait. Or I could just send it somewhere else. Problem is that it's a hard story to place. It's paranormal... sort of... not enough of a paranormal for it to fit into a real paranormal catagory, but not really contempory. CURSE MY IMAGINATION! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So, off I go to make dinner and figure out what wip I'll go with next.
I printed off another copy of That Kind Of Magic for my Kensington submission. I hated to do it, but my first copy had header/footer and I realized that maybe they don't want that. Of course there's no clear direction on their page on what they want. They said 3 chapters, but a Kensington author recommended the first 100 pages. So, which one to go with? Last thing I want to do is to mess it up by sending them what they don't want. I'm still tempted to send it to Samhain instead, but it's only (hehehe only) a three month wait. I guess I've waited for this long, what's another three months. That'll make it about a year since the first time TKOM left home. Still trying to figure out what I'm going to do for JaNoWriMo. Finish Forever Home and then take it from there. I still really want to work on both wips, but I want to settle on one and finish it. (I also made the mistake of looking through some boxes yesterday and I found several notebooks filled with other wips that I left alone, another possibility for a Blaze in there. I'm doooooomed!) I'd love to know how someone like Nora Roberts writes. Is she as fickle as all my writing friends when it comes to working on a story or is she focused on one until it's done and then goes on to the next. For me writing is like being a mom of more than one child. You can't just give one kid all the attention until he/she is grown up and out of the house and then start on the next one. They all need your time and TLC. Or is that just an excuse? All right, enough. Forever Home isn't going to get written by itself. Off I go before I have to leave for work.
I feel horrendous right now and I know the worst is yet to come. It's the weather. I'm sure of it. One day it's in the 40's then next the 20's. One day it's an ice storm, the next snow and after that sun or rain. Can it just make up its mind?
Colds make it very difficult to concentrate on writing and I have a very important scene I'm working on and it's suffering right along with me. So yesterday I browsed MySpace layouts so I could change my background. yes, that's really productive.
I did do some writing this morning, but I'm just not wowing myself. I'm easily distracted. And I'm pretty ticked that my new coffee maker didn't make a beautiful cup of coffee this morning. Despite the fact we cleaned it there's a funky taste to it. Blah. Needed that coffee too.
That Kind Of Magic is still sitting on my desk waiting to be submitted to Kensington. So what's the hold up? I'm not sure I want to send it to them. I'm on the fence. I've been thinking of sending it to Samhain instead. I really want it in print and I know Samhain, if they even like it, will print it. Samhain is going to be working with Kensington too, so maybe it would be an in, and I'm very confident that Samhain would like the story.
So, what to do what to do?
Make breakfast and a cup of tea I guess and wish I didn't have to go to work today.
Fellow writer, New Hampshirite and friend, Marianne Arkins is celebrating the release of her book One Love For Liv at Samhain Publishing.
Marianne is an extremely talented writer with stories that are guaranteed to give anyone that sigh-inducing Happily Ever After. I can't wait to own a copy!
I received this review over at Romance Reviews Today WHERE ONE ROAD LEADS – Ceri Hebert Samhain Publishing – www.samhainpublishing.com ISBN: 1-59998-548-9 July 2007 Romantic Suspense Quail Ridge, New Hampshire – Present Day After fifteen years, Krista Faye is going back to her childhood home in Quail Ridge. As a photojournalist, she has faced many dangerous places in the world, but none is more frightening to her than Quail Ridge. She is leasing an old mill and making it into a youth center, but she will be facing her demons from years ago. Police officers Matt Burgess and his father, Ed, own the old mill. Because Krista’s boss leased the property, Matt and Ed are not aware that Krista is behind the opening of the youth center. Matt blames Krista for the car accident that took the lives of his little brother and Krista’s best friend fifteen years ago. Krista was sent to prison, lost the baby she was carrying, and still has scars from the accident. There was more to the accident, but many people believed the version Ricky, the fourth person in the car, told. Krista still blames herself and mourns her friends. When Kristi’s house and youth center are vandalized, Matt begins to have second thoughts about Kristi’s guilt. Could Ricky have had more to do with the accident than he admitted? As things heat up between Krista and Matt romantically, a confrontation with Ricky sets off more vandalism. But if Ricky was out of town, who could hate Krista so much that he would want to kill her? WHERE ONE ROAD LEADS is an enjoyable story about a woman who paid dearly for any sins she may or may not have committed. She is brave, but vulnerable, hoping everyone will forgive her for the part she played in the accident. She hopes to do something good for the town, but there are some people who are unwilling to forgive and forget. Matt realizes that he has been wrong to blame Krista for the death of his brother. He finds her to be a good, compassionate woman, and not the cruel hard-hearted woman he had envisioned. Ricky is a spoiled man whose father always bailed him out of trouble, and who feels no remorse for anything he does. The book is an easy-to-read, compelling romantic suspense to while away an afternoon. The characters are likeable, and the pacing is good. Readers are sure to enjoy this one. Marilyn Heyman I've also done a read through of my 2006 Nano manuscript and it's not as hopeless as I thought it was. In fact I really like it. The characters are strong and the descriptions vivid. I have to get back and start rewrites/edits. I have high hopes for this one. And when I'm done with it I'll use it to lure in an agent. But first I have errands galore!
Location: Southwestern, New Hampshire, United States
I'm 44 year old mom of 3. I work as a customer service rep for a publishing company, and I write. I have five published novels and working on adding to that.
THAT KIND OF MAGIC--AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 17,2010
What's a witch to do when she refuses to use magic to find love? Beautiful Wiccan Charlotte Noone has a shop for magical supplies and a goddess who's pushing her to find the man of her dreams. When Patrick Riordan, a straight-laced non-believer enters her life, Charlotte falls madly in lust with him. Despite their very different lives, neither can stop the erotic journey they’ve embarked on, but will it be enough to break through their barriers so they can accept that love itself is magical?.
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