Tag Archive | rejection

Kindness Helps

Mar26

I have to start by thanking you for the encouragement you gave me yesterday (and have given me in the past)! Each comment made me smile and bolstered my spirit, and I appreciate the thoughtful support so much. It’s things like this that make me think the world is made up of mostly good people, and we’re just the quiet ones most of the time. But look at the knitting community, the writing community, heck, look at Jenny Lawson’s (The Bloggess) wonderful tribe supporting those who suffer with mental health illnesses. I’ve come across so many truly kind, generous, caring people. It pleases me. Let’s keep it up. It doesn’t cost a thing to be kind, right?

Okay, so, what did I do with my peaceful day yesterday? I did revise my query letter, and I’m quite pleased with it, and I sent it off to four more agents! Once that was done, I felt I had earned some knitting time, so I settled in with the puppies and my Color Block Wrap. It works up FAST! IMG_5616I sped through the second color and onto the third in one evening. I’m not convinced the stripes are as big as the ones in the pattern so I might measure it this morning and make sure it’ll end up a wearable length. Just in case I need to frog, I haven’t trimmed my long yarn tails yet. However it ends up, it will be the coziest scarf/wrap ever.

IMG_5613For now, the puppies and I would like to wish a happy Easter weekend to those who celebrate, and a happy regular weekend to those who don’t!

Getting Over Rejection

Mar25

Let’s play Bad News/Good News. Which do you want first? Bad? Okay: I’ve now gotten four rejections on my memoir queries. They’ve all been very kind and gentle, but they’re still No. The first was fine, the second was disappointing for a moment, the third was a deep breath, and the fourth kicked my butt for some reason. I really was expecting this, but apparently that doesn’t make it easier. Those rejections, combined with the knowledge that memoirs are hard to sell and have to be extremely unusual and compelling, had me thinking I should scrap the current manuscript and rewrite it as fiction.

But, good news: after several days of extreme self-doubt, I feel ready to get back to work. I have more agents to query; I might as well get through the list before giving up. I had a very kind friend who offered to read my query letter and synopsis, so I’ve got some strong feedback to help me as I revise. My family is heading out for the day so I’ll have some quiet time to really focus…if I can resist the call of my knitting.

I finished the newest hat yesterday; it was a super quick one. IMG_5606The pattern is called Sneaky Snakes and the easy 4-row lace pattern made a nifty squiggly pattern. There are only three decrease rounds so you definitely want to make sure you’ve got a long enough body. I like how mine ended up.IMG_5607With that done, I made some more progress on my Color Block Wrap. I’ve got the first block done, but I only made it to 65 stitches instead of 69. It’s fine, though. IMG_5608It’s delicious to knit and I’m looking forward to moving on to the second color tonight. It will be my reward for revising my query letter!