Rejectomancy and Reminiscences

In our last exciting episode, I mentioned getting another novel rejection--but a good one (as rejections go). I was waiting to post about it until after I met with my fellow INK (Immaculate Novelists Kult) members tonight, but that meeting fell through. Illness (on someone else's part, this time) has forced us to postpone the meeting. Besides, one of us is trying to get a book out the door tonight, so this frees up the evening for that anyhow.

So. I got a rejection on Strange Attractors from one of the publishers I'd sent it to. It read as follows:

Dear Mark,

Thank you for sending [Editor Name] Strange Attractors. She forward the proposal on to me. While it has an interesting premise, the writing just didn't come together for me. Therefore, I must pass at this time. I wish you the best of luck in placing it with another house.

Best,
[Second Editor]
Editorial, [Publisher]

So I passed a first reading and the editor had someone else take a look at it. That's good. On the other hand, that's twice now that I've been told that the premise was interesting but the writing just didn't grab the editor. So I know where I need to focus on improving. That's also good--it's nice, clear feedback on what's working (the premise, plot) and what's not (the writing).

In non-writing news, I bought some tools (a hoe, loppers, anti-goo cleaning solution, turf builder, and DUCT TAPE) at Home Despot. Got away for a lot less than we had budgeted (though I didn't buy any mulch, which was on the shopping list as I need to confer with MLATW on exactly what sort to buy). Then I came home and applied the duct tape, but--alas!--it failed me. I think the item in question is beyond salvation.

I also applied the hoe vigorously to the front left corner of our lawn, digging up dandelions, loosening the soil, and generally getting it prepared for...the application of Scott's Turf Builder and water. If it works as advertised, we'll have grass there again instead of an ever-growing mass of dandelions. The Weed-B-Gon we bought and used was highly effective in killing the dandelions, so I'm hopeful that this will be equally effective at reseeding the lawn. We'll see.

Afterward, I stripped off in the kitchen, had Twoson take my clothes down to the basement, and I showered off. My lovely and talented wife is allergic to grass seed (among other things), so I tried to take care not contaminate the house, since I'd just been scattering it about with enthusiasm. It reminded of the long-ago (and unmourned) days when I was a lad in Virginia and came home filthy and stinking after a hard few hours work catching chickens*. My mother would have me (later us, when one of my brothers joined me in this exciting job) strip off on the carport, then shower in the basement bathroom while she laundered our clothes immediately.

*Nastiest job I've ever had, though far from the worst job out there. Hot, sweaty, dusty work in a big (huge, industrial-farm sized) dirt-floored barn. Chasing chickens into the corners (where they cluster in huge groups) before you plunge into the feathered mass and thrust your hands into the pile just above floor level to seize a handful of chicken legs in your fingers and snatch them up. Then you trot over and jam them into racks of cages that get rolled onto trucks headed for the Campbell's Soup factory....
Stories in Circulation: 11
Rejections: 44
Stories Accepted: SEVEN
Stories to Resubmit: 0

Novel Queries: 1 Novel, 3 queries out
Novel Rejections: 7