All right. All right, already! You've twisted my arm. I’ll come clean and admit my romantic suspense manuscript, tentatively titled On The Scent, was rejected by Carina Press. Such is the life of a writer. And while I'm disappointed Carina won't be publishing the book (because I love Carina — I really, really do), I'm very fortunate that I received some invaluable feedback from the incredibly kind editor to whom I submitted. We all know that NEVER happens in the land of form rejection letters.
So I've been letting the book and the revision suggestions settle while I decide how to proceed. Should I go buy a bottle of hard liquor, drink half of it to drown my sorrows and use the other half to start a bonfire with the pages in a sort of farewell-to-this-manuscript-forever cremation service? Tempting, but I don't drink. And, okay, I don't really know how to safely start a bonfire either. I did give serious consideration to shredding the manuscript and using it as kitty litter for Dusti. Perhaps it would be fitting to do so (because a cat is a character in the book), but nah. I've decided the best option is to go back to the darn thing and see what I can do with it, because the truth is, I know it's missing something in the story to make it special. And I'm also a stubborn sonofagun who refuses to accept defeat. And for all of its minor faults, I also love the story!
Mainly, I know I don't want to abandon the story because I'm 10 chapters into its sequel, The Psychic Detectives Book 2, and I really, really love Book 2's story, too. Problem is, Book 2 depends heavily on a plot point set up in the rejected The Psychic Detectives Book 1. And I've decided I'm too lazy to rework Book 2 to make it a standalone. I understand now why people say not to write Book 2 until you know the publisher wants Book 1 in a series. Meh. So what? Did I mention how much I'm loving Book 2?
I've put Book 2 on hold for a while and have started revising Book 1 in earnest. In some ways, I'm embarrassed I sent the thing out to begin with. I think I fell victim to wanting to be published again before my first book gets pulled from cyber shelves. Okay, okay, I'll come clean and admit something else. I've actually written two full books since Cry Wolf was published one year ago. But I never sent the first one, tentatively titled The Hybrid, to Carina Press because my gut told me it wasn't right for that publisher. That book did get rejected by another publisher (in my defense, I ambitiously sent it to a biggie), so I set it aside, too. I plan to dig into it in the near future and whip that sucker into shape, but first, I'm concentrating on the rejected The Psychic Detectives Book 1 so I can get back to and finish Book 2.
Book 1. Book 2. Other Book 1. I just realized I sound like a crazy person, don't I? Kudos to you if you made sense of that jumble!
To motivate myself, I even announced to the universe the basic synopsis for all my works in progress on my website. Universe, please don't steal my ideas before I can publish them. That would make me cry. Seriously. Thank you.
Now I'd better run. I've got some plot points to revise. And revise again.
I need to stop procrastinating.
Wish me luck.
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