...And Another One Encourages the Dust

From another well-known agent, just the other day:

Hi Alex, I am so so sorry to be slow. I have been outrageously behind, and when I see the date of receipt of this ms I am horrified and so apologetic.

I had an intern read it a few weeks ago and she brought it to me with arelatively good report, so i started reading myself. My thoughts are these: you are a fabulous writer, and you create each of these characters with style and smarts. There is so much to admire in this book. BUT I find that I had trouble getting fully engaged in the overall plot and shape of the book as a whole, as I tried to become engaged in each of these lives you present. They are all done quite well, but I really respond much better to a novel that has a more centered plot. This plot works, I wouldnt deny that, but for me, a matter of taste more than anything else, it did not arouse passion. I think you are quite good but I dont think I am the right match for you. I am so sorry. But your talent is real, and I urge you to get other readings ... I wish I could help you but you need someone who has a strong vision for the novel and its place on the market, a vision which unfortunately I cannot provide to you.

I wish you much success with this, and I am so sorry I cannot help. BUT please keep faith in your work because you are truly a wise and talented writer.

Yours, XXXXXX

I have to remember that this is, in fact, a good thing. I just feel so close, and yet so dizzyingly, insurmoutably far. I simply have to remember that a response of any kind is a blessing, and that a response like this is a great, generous gift. There seems to be an accumulation of wisdom in these rejections--somehow, although the characters are engaging and the plot is successful the novel is not fully engagingor successful. I would give millions (if I had them) for a month of retreat to wade back into the novel's big pool.

Rejection/Delight

This, from a well-regarded agent with a number of best-sellers on his list:

Dear Alex,

Several of us read THE TREE MUSEUM and we really enjoyed it. You have a lot of talent and it’s a well-crafted novel. It does, though, lack the tightness and structural perfection we look for in multiple voice novels, which are always harder to sell and need to be amazing for publishers to pick them up. Maybe this is a personal reaction, but some of the voices worked better for us than others. But that said, while we’re passing on this, we definitely would like to see more from you.


Argh!!!!! I've now sent THE TREE MUSEUM to eleven agents, and received rejections from eight. And while I fully recognize that eight rejections is nothing in context of what some authors go through, it's beginning to feel dispiriting.

Equally dispiriting, oddly, is the preponderance of really good rejections. Of those eight, only three were stock rejections. The others say things like the above: clearly talented writer, enjoyable characters, well-crafted, almost took this on, and more. I know I should be -- and ultimately I am -- terribly grateful for these thoughtful responses, but I just so desperately want one of these smart, savvy readers to say "Yes, it has flaws, but I love it. Let's get to work."

Maybe I need to rethink the novel myself... take it back and get to work on my own. There is a clear confluence of ideas among the kinder rejections...there seems to be a theme as to why, so consistently, the novel falls just short of something they want to take on.

So is it back to the drawing board? Dive back in and figure out which characters deserve the spotlight and which can recede? Or do I wait until rejection #11 comes through?

Six Down

So the rejections just keep coming. It's hard. I won't lie--I knew this novel has flaws, but I also feel it has a lot going for it. I still believe that, and the rejections I'm receiving seem to confirm it.

Most of the agents seem to be reading it through to the end, and more than a few have sent me very thoughtful, constructive comments. Now if only one would sign me on!

Luckily, I've got a few days between jobs (leaving the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, joining Conservation International) and I can make some important revisions to the plot and depth. I think the novel needs to be richer, with a clearer focus. Perhaps six equally weighted characters isn't what this novel needs. But is it two? Three?

But he don't fall down.

OK, I rallied. Found three new agents last night, two with whom I can establish tenous (even not-so-tenuous) connections, and will spend tomorrow morning sending queries to them all. This novel is good, and it is true to me. I am not a snide, smartypants, Brooklyn whiz kid. I write caring novels about good people in tough situations. The kind of love to read. I have to believe that others might too. Stand up, dust off, walk tall. Happy Monday, all.

Weeble Wobble

Tonight I received my first rejection. This newest round of showing my neck is in service to my new novel, The Tree Museum, for which I've just sent a round of 8 query letters to agents. Two agents--as I knew they would, due to friendly author connections--agreed to read it. To my stomach-churning joy, a third agent emailed on Friday morning saying she'd like to read it as well. Tonight, she said "No."

It's hard. I mean, I'm well aware that this life of mine requires a thick skin, and I think I have one--I told Matt that I'm like a weeble wobble where rejections are concerned. Even a short one like I received tonight--friendly, but curt--can be considered a blessing if I twist and turn it long enough. But it still hurts. This novel--every novel every dreaming novelist writes--is a precious, precious thing. It hurts to have it turned away.

So I'll seek out more agents (there are still 7 great ones in play) and send more queries, and keep believing in this novel, for as long as I can. And if I stop fighting for it, I pray it will be to make way for the next one. I've got some ideas. I don't stay down.