The Path In Between

The Path In Between

When I blogged about my first rejection as a writer for a recent blog hop, the article drew considerable interest (find it here), and several readers emailed me privately asking for more details about what happened between that no and the eventual yes. So, here's the rest of the story.

I continued to query. In fact, queries were sent to more than 150 agents. There were a few yes, if's along the way. One agent wanted me to change it to a story about zombies, another to a novel about angels. I wasn't interested. Another agent suggested I make it a straight mystery and make all the characters human. But that wasn't the story I had written. About two dozen agents read the full manuscript and a similar number requested partials. In the end, I received 72 written rejections, but the remaining queries had no response, the newest way that agents say no.

In the meantime, I kept writing--two more fantasies and two thrillers. From time to time I worked on strengthening the first fantasy. By now I realized I had started submitting it long before it was ready, but those bridges were burned and I quit submitting it. During the winter of 2011 I did one more rewrite, switching all three fantasies into third person rather than first person. Then I set them aside because frankly I didn't know where to submit them. Instead, I concentrated on the thrillers and sent queries for the first one directly to a handful of small presses. I received encouraging responses but no contracts. A couple of those presses suggested I submit something else. In fact, one letter was so nice that I decided to send Awakening the Fire. I ended up submitting it to three small presses, and I went back to writing. I was working on a series of short stories based on the characters in the thrillers. Six weeks passed, and I hadn't heard from anyone. It seemed like the same old story again. Then THE email arrived offering a contract!

After I quit celebrating, I sent the courtesy emails to the other two presses stating that I'd received an offer, and one of them asked me to give them an extra two weeks to decide whether to make an offer of their own. I didn't wait. I didn't hear from the third press. I've never regretted the decision I made. Etopia Press is a solid small publisher with a great staff and a terrific group of authors. I'm very happy that my urban fantasy series has found a home.

Of course, that isn't really the end of my story. Those of you who know me realize I won't be satisfied until my thrillers have their forever home too! :) And who knows what worlds will call me after that . . .

Thanks for listening. Come back soon!