Throwing in the Towel – Part II

I'm going throw something, and it's not a towel.

Why the hell would you spend months chasing after a review from HC – then shrug off said review as being from a 'junior editor' when it comes?

They pointed out the flaws from an HC editor's point of view and you run off whining because...It didn't come from Disney?

I have not one, but two, five page reviews ripping my writing style apart. I printed them, discussed them with my F2F group. I've poured over these documents, not because they are brimming with hearts, flowers, singing mice and fairy dust, but because there is something useful in there.

I took my "bait and switch" opening to 'Flogging the Quill' knowing it sucked, but I wanted help figuring out a good opening. Ray gave me his honest assessment of my overall style. (Bless him! He said my 'voice' was 'seductive.') He pointed out some things that I eventually turned into the current opening. (I have yet to thank him personally. Better get on that.)

Weeks later - The Editors said "We loved the opening pages and…" They also finished with "…cut 1/3 of the first 3 chapters and resubmit."

Of course I sniveled a bit – then ran a word count to figure out how many words needed to go. Then – guess what? – I started cutting.

It is abso-lutely (ehem) useless to compete for something – then dismiss it when you finally get it. I mean really, did you expect them to say? "Loved it! Shelved it! Here's your contract."

I really need to get away from Authonomy. If it wasn't writer's crack I would. "Let's Do Lunch" is 90 on the general chart, after two weeks. I'm going to leave it for another week – while I finished editing "Lunch."

PS - If Leo doesn't leave me alone – I'm going to feed him to Van Man Go. I've got a dozen pages of "Tempest in a Teapot" which I was saving for NaNoWritMo. Shut up, Leo! Take a cold shower, get a shave and a hair cut!