Comments on: Tap, Tap, Tap http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/ "it must give pleasure" -- Wallace Stevens Thu, 06 Oct 2011 01:38:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: bloglily http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21229 Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:13:46 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21229 Kristin — Absolutely. There is nothing better than a little spring airing out. I can’t get to my closets, because they’re too full of stuff, so I am making do with my rejection experience. I love that tree. My very grumpy neighbor hates it. She claims the blossoms are ruining her life. (!)

Gail — here, here, have some words!

Dear Emily, I don’t know about brave. For some reason I do not find my failings all that painful to admit to. Well, there are a few I don’t think I’d like to discuss.

hey Ben, Thanks for that link!

You know, Charlotte, I think I should put up my query letter, just to make other writers feel better!

]]> By: Kristin Ohlson http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21228 Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:55:20 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21228 Oh, I love your tulip tree photo– a big one used to grow in my front yard in Oroville.

Why is it that every writer page I visit today has something about rejection. Are we are resolving to pluck up our spirits now that we’re waking to sunlight?

]]> By: openpalm http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21188 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:41:09 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21188 tap tap tap…
yes, the sounds of a much spoiled and now unsatisfied reader, checking daily and tapping her fingers, as a matter of fact crying very large very wet tears daily when nothing new appears…
tap tap tap
splash splash

]]> By: Emily Barton http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21184 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:13:48 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21184 You are so very brave. I can’t imagine not only trying to publish but also sharing with others in this way. The best of luck to you, and I’ll be watching (and wondering what the hell is the matter with all these agents and publishers). Oh, and I hate to tell you this, but yes, quite often, that “tap,” “tap,” “tap” is ME waiting for a post.

]]> By: OmbudsBen http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21182 Sun, 17 Feb 2008 03:16:48 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21182 Did you ever hear the song “Tubthumping” by the anarchist band Chumbawumba?

The refrain is:

I get knocked down
But I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down!

Something there might work as an alternate title for your dispatches page.

Keep on getting back up, and keep your sense of humor — after all, that’s what got John, Paul, George and Ringo in. It wasn’t the music after all. Rejected by everyone else, and almost rejected by George Martin, too, he responded to them personally, and to their humor. (“Maybe I can find them some music,” he thought.)

Don’t ever let them keep you down, Lily!

]]> By: charlotteotter http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21179 Fri, 15 Feb 2008 18:05:44 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21179 Good luck, dear Lily. You are where I hope to be in about six months’ time: sending out a completed manuscript. I keep an eye on the blog of an agent who works for Curtis Hanson in SF, called Nathan Bransford and he has some excellent pointers on how to write a good query: http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/

]]> By: bloglily http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21177 Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:09:47 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21177 The upcoming book, dear very public one (and welcome, by the way!) is so extraordinary I cannot even give you a hint. But a review is forthcoming. Soon. Ish.

Q — Far better than RejectLily!

Dear Ms. Musings, Thank you. There is something very inspiring about good wishes like yours and I’m grateful to you for them.

]]> By: a very public sociologist http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21176 Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:51:02 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21176 No hint on what this book may be?

]]> By: qazse http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21174 Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:23:35 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21174 Lily. I think the next chapter will be titled “booklily”.

fondly, Q

]]> By: musingsfromthesofa http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21168 Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:33:09 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21168 I shall certainly be reading the new page, and wishing you the best of luck in attracting the attention of agents.

]]> By: bloglily http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21163 Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:07:17 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21163 Oh Nova — how did you know about that incessant thing? The problem with e-queries to agents is, of course, that you can check a million times a day to see if they’ve decided they want to take you on. But really, they’re not even thinking about my query, unless they’re mocking it to their friends over g&t’s at lunch.

LK — Awesome links! Obviously you have been thinking about this a bit.

Dear Mari, What you say is true. (Well, I’m not so sure about the Great Prize, but everything else….) I am particularly in agreement about the short & sweet letter of rejection. When I was a teaching assistant for a legal writing class and when I was a reader in graduate school, I was ALWAYS shocked by the push-back I got from people. I realize now the reason I got so much of that was because I left so many comments. I myself would never, ever argue with someone who went out of their way to tell me what they thought about my writing — probably because if it was praise I’d be too embarrassed to hear it and if it was condemnation I was busy wondering what cookies I had in the cupboard. Still, it is also terribly unprofessional to push-back like that. In the history of the world, I doubt anyone’s short story has been published after being rejected because the writer e-mailed the publisher back and told them they were wrong.

]]> By: nova http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21156 Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:39:26 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21156 Ooh, great. I know I will be checking this new page incessantly.

]]> By: LK http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21155 Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:31:16 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21155 This is the time to read all about the great writers who were rejected by silly, small-minded publishers. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/books/review/Oshinsky-t.html?ei=5088&en=b15817b3805a51f7&ex=1346990400&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1189231454-/OmkbWkm+wy5qf0lPLWCNQ

Oh, and this is good:

http://www.literaryrejectionsondisplay.blogspot.com/

]]> By: mari http://bloglily.com/2008/02/12/tap-tap-tap/#comment-21153 Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:59:55 +0000 http://bloglily.wordpress.com/?p=399#comment-21153 Bloglily, If my doggie didn’t like people, I’d send him to those publishers who turned your work away. I regret that at the moment he will just sit and beg for food. I’ll have to train him a little more…When I was a tv reporter, I used to look over the unsolicited show reel submissions from other reporters. Occasionally I was wowed by their work, but we really didn’t have the budget or an open position for them, so I’d watch the bureau chief or office manager sign the rejection letters and put them in the outgoing mailbox. Thing is, and maybe as an attorney you can understand this, but the “No” letters always had to be brief and bare in details. Otherwise we might be liable for leading people on (or something like that). Anyway, keep those notices because someday you’ll get published and you’ll get a major prize. And then you can hold those up at the people who didn’t publish you and say, “Ha! Take that!” xo, mari

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