Suffering from Writer's Blech

Sleep Safari, my nonsense-rhyme picture book, has been rejected by four publishers. That may not seem like a lot. But given that there are only about ten publishers left in the universe willing to look at unagented submissions, Sleep Safari's future prospects don't look all that pretty.

Sleep Safari is my bittersweet love, my fractious darling that, like the veriest Generation X'er, I fear will never leave home, which must be why I stubbornly keep sending it out into the world.

So here I am, contemplating rejection, when I find something that cheers me right up. It's a quote in an old cover letter from Kelly Link, who once gave a children's fantasy short story I wrote the honor of an "Editor's Choice" in the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror.

My story was, she said, a “wildly inventive, enjoyable, light-hearted confection of a story...much in the style of Lemony Snicket, or Lynne Reid Banks, or Joan Aiken's Arabella and Mortimer books.”

I will not think about how the piece is still unfinished and unavailable to market to editor Sharyn November at Penguin, as she later recommended. Or how I don't even know if Sharyn November is even still with Penguin. Sigh.

I feel so much better now...hmmm. Let's go write some content.

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