Rejection #2

Rejection #2 - Greene & Heaton Ltd

Dear Mr. Took,

Thank you for your letter, and for giving us the opportunity to consider your work.

We're sorry to tell you that we didn't feel this was a project we could handle successfully on your behalf.

We wish you the best of luck with your writing in the future, and hope that you find suitable representation shortly.

Yours sincerely,


Greene & Heaton Ltd
T: + 44 (0) 20 8749 0315
www.greeneheaton.co.uk

37 Goldhawk Road
London W12 8QQ
Reg. No. 735524 England

298 left to go

Paul Coelho and Is Peace worth trying for?

I was just watching this video over on Paul Coelho's blog and I thought I'd add a comment, drawing a direct relation between peace and its sustainability, alongside inner balance and its sustainability.

It's like I say, to live a good lifestyle you need balance in at least two major aspects, work and rest. However, how you define and understand the words work and rest are individual to you as a person and not as simple as they might first appear.

Furthermore if internal peace is the attempt to attain inner balance over these two elements (and others) then one can quickly find that achieving true balance is an every day thing that requires rest in order to make it work and focus in order to make it happen.
So what I am trying to say is, balance is an ongoing every day work in progress and at this moment in time (I'm 23) I believe it has to stay that way until an equilibrium (Not a peace) can be achieved for the individual and not everyone.

So in life peace is an ongoing struggle, but at some point an equilibrium can be achieved, which is not the exemplar of peace, but is the exemplar of "what works".

That seemed like the best analogy I could draw, it will be far from perfect as the years roll on I'm sure. But that's the whole point, just as Paul states, the whole thing is ONGOING. Just like Meditation in Buddhism is not the whole journey, but part of the journey toward enlightenment (for Buddhists) or part of the journey through life (for non-Buddhists). I should point out I meditated for nearly a year with dramatic effects psychologically and physiologically, it was an amazing test, but it was part of an ongoing process, not the only path toward attaining a better understanding of myself.

I'm sure more rejections will follow soon! I've just sent off a query letter today.

Dominic

Some books to help get those odds down...

Just bought a load of books to help me on my way to getting those odds RIGHT down in my favor.

(0) On Writing Well (Rare) - William Zinsser

(0) Bulletproof Book Proposals - Pam Brodowsky and Eric Neuhaus

I also bought a big dictionary of english usage, seeing as I keep looking things up all the time. A must for anyone, but certainly a big must for me.

(0) Merriam Websters Dictionary of English Usage.

So I've had about 5 replies from agents, the rest are probably at the London Book Fair, though fewer seem to be there than last year so far, but that might not be completely true.

If you check this blog for old posts, you'll see I already have one or two rejections, from publishers who wouldn't look at another book in a series when they had already rejected the first book.

Don't forget http://www.dominictook.com & http://www.amazon.co.uk/Storms-Acias-Dominic-Took/dp/0955612306/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240478234&sr=8-1

There are still a few copies left....

Here we go again...

Well I've just started contacting agents properly. I've just contacted 20 and am now waiting for responses.

To give you an idea, this is my 5th novel and my 3rd or 4th blog of rejections (Roughly 30-40 rejections per blog, at the end of the submission cycle). I submit very seriously and I do it by the numbers. Why? Because the odds are ridiculous if you're one of those authors/writers who's going to have to wait ten years to get published. So I don't get excited and nor do I get involved, I do it and I try and turn my rejections into positives.

This isn't easy, but you can undo anything if you try hard enough. So instead of receiving something bad, I tell myself it's good. Why do I do this? One reason is that, all these rejections will one day amount to my successes. There is no success without failure and in the case of some failure was there mainstay their entire lives, but they were still remembered regardless, because they did things like no one else did.

I am not comparing myself to these people, I am saying that failure comes first and should be relished because once it's over, you'll be elated sure, but you will be in waters that are not quite as shallow or as crystal clear as they first might appear. By spending time in the darker, thousand feet deep waters, you learn to see what isn't real when it presents itself.

I cross my fingers for Path and can't wait to get it out to the original fans of the first book.

Want a copy to read and give feedback on? Send an email to contact @ dominictook.com and I will sort it out for you.

Rejection #1

Rejection #1 - Penguin (Britain)

Dear Dominic

Thanks for your email. I'm sorry but I'm afraid that given THE STORMS OF ACIAS wasn't suitable for the list I think it's very unlikely that our response would differ with regard to the sequel. If you write something outside of this sequence, which perhaps has a more child-friendly voice, then it might be worth submitting that. I'd suggest reading as widely as you can within the children's/YA market - a very good sense of the competition is always helpful in positioning your own work.


I'm sorry to disappoint and we wish you the very best of luck with your writing.


Best wishes

(299 to go)