Moody Meow

Liberal, lunatic lassie, with mood swings and foot-in-mouth syndrome

Rejection? Moving on

Posted on | August 25, 2010 | No Comments

It’s been quiet around here. Not literally, of course. I’m burning the candle at both ends again… yes the term started, on Monday. I think I already see new gray hairs. But I’ve been doing a lot of running around, trying to organize things for a new addition to our household (No, I am not pregnant… GAH! Hush your mouth!) and getting things set up properly for my last term. There’s a lot of making lists and making plans, but little enough time to get it done.

I. Need. To. Win. The. Lottery.

Now, I finally got the email I’ve been expecting but not really wanting. The agent from NY that I pitched to during res this summer rejected my novel. I knew she would, and every lovely, well-explained reason made painful sense to me. The things she liked also made sense. I busted my ass on two things in the book: setting and dialect. I don’t know why I obsessed over those two things, but I did, and it showed. The problem areas are the ones that I always have a problem with: character motivation and honestly, plot. How can one write a book with little to no plot? It takes a fucking miracle, and I did it.

Okay maybe I am being a little hard on myself. There IS a plot, but the reasons for the characters doing things does not make sense to the reader. It makes perfect sense in my little noggin, but my noggin is not translating to paper well.

Sigh.

What does this mean? Well my “rejection cherry” has been popped, and all of my lovely classmates and writerly friends celebrated the rejection with me. It also means I have a metric fuckton of editing to do on that novel. But guess who is finishing her MFA? Yeah, this kid. So, no time.

But I have a plan! So while I am working on my WIP I will also edit the first book, sort of a way to take my brains out of one work and put them into another. Honestly with the first book, I was burnt the fuck out, and it shows in the writing. I am a superhero, so I will write my WIP and edit Book 1, and somehow maintain sanity.

I think I need to go to the wine store. Wine is the only thing that will fuel this.

In other news, I spent a brilliant weekend in Seattle with the hubbie and our friends Erin and Jason, and our Portland friend Megan. That weekend: I went to a punk show, realized how fat I am, drank more whiskey than is human, used margaritas to cure my hangover, smoked until my throat hurt, fell more in love with Seattle, fell more in love with my friends, lusted over shoes and danced my ass off. Erin and I became really good friends last summer when she hired me, but she moved to Seattle to be with Jason (who I adore). I always have fun with them, and Jason brings out the social side of my hubbie.

Seattle… I know we are going to move there eventually. There’s an energy about that city that intoxicates me. It makes Portland seem charming and small and almost insignificant. That is not to say that I don’t love Portland, I do. This is a brilliant place where anything goes, and everyone (generally…unless you are a tea-partier) is accepted. But I miss being in a proper big city. The hubbie knows we will get there eventually, but for now, we are going to focus on succeeding where we are…

I am headed to San Fran to visit the birthdaughter on Labor Day weekend (remember that traveling I was telling you about?). I’m excited to go but bummed because, yet again, I am going alone. We don’t have the cash to bring the hubbie and then spring for a dog sitter. So, I am flying out there alone. They have not seen me in almost 8 years, I think. She’s 16 now. This should be “interesting.” Nice time to quit smoking, eh? (I’m going through a cycle of quitting smoking, fucking up, quitting again, rinse and repeat…so I’ll be quitting for a while, methinks).

So this week I have: 3 classes worth of work to finish, a submission due to my DeMentor, crits to work on and sanity to maintain.

Oh, and I quit drinking too…think that’s about to end.

Category: Everyday, Roam, Seton Hill

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