Saturday, August 26, 2006

No Feedback

Since discovering Rachel Vater's blog, I've been hoping to see my query pop up in her daily (or thereabouts) dozen. Unfortunately, there'll be no such feedback.

Got the standard rejection, signed but with no other personalization. Is the query no good? Or is it the plot that doesn't attract attention? At least if my missive turned up as something she's seen half a million times, I'd know which way to go, but I'm left wondering. What I wrote isn't what she's looking for at this time. Such a pat phrase, free of direction or deep meaning.

So my query isn't laughable, the story isn't risible, but beyond that, the best I can do is try someone else. One request for a partial thus far, so maybe it's the query or maybe it's not.

Hard to judge these days. It's vacation time in Publishing Land, and there's not much point in doing anything for now. The literary journals are opening to submissions again, which means I should fashion some new shorts. Then there's the new WIP, which is bogged down in the research phase. Waiting to hear is becoming too much of a distraction, with the internal editor telling me to give it up. After five manuscripts, can I hold out any hope for the future?

Won't know if I don't try, of course, so I'd better sit down with the history books and get cracking.

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