Rest in Purgatory or Rest in Peace -
Not sure which, but some of my manuscripts are going down. It’s time to clean the old wishing cabinets and put these rejected manuscripts where the sun doesn’t shine. Someone told me at about 12 rejections, one should start thinking it’s the manuscript, not just a fluke. IMO, those twelve submissions would need to be dead on to your target market to be worthy enough to even consider them true rejections. In my case, I’d say most were well chosen enquiries. I’d accept the blanket 12 rejections if it wasn’t for the random happenstance of the one personal letter.
I’ve received three really good personal rejections, each on a separate project. They gave the me (the manuscript) hope to keep on trying. But now I’m starting to think that they were for me (the writer) & not the story itself. So I think it’s time to let go. And keep writing forward............
So let's get serious people. This Kat needs to know... How do you know when a manuscript is ready to RIPeace or RiPergatory?
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4 comments:
I have a chart.
On this chart is a list of all the agents I've queried. I have a column where I check off when I've heard back. More than half the chart is empty.
The other half is rejections.
Oh, the chart is MUCH bigger than 12 lines. Much, much bigger.
Simple. If you don't know whether a story is ready to RIP, then it's not.
Stephen, that sounds right. I think I'm in purgatory trying to trust my intuition as to my opinion & reality. In my mind, I'd publish all of them. :-)
Chris - how big is that chart? Maybe I'll have to add another page to the old excel spreadsheet.
Have you had feedback from others on your manuscripts? And I don't mean your family and friends? Perhaps you need some fresh perspective.
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