Heather Rae Scott

This is the start of something new over here and I hope that it continues to grow. Every Monday, I hope to have a guest blogger. One of my friends graciously dived in with both feet and volunteered to be the first. Please welcome, Calisa Lewis to my blog!

Thanks for having me here Heather Rae!

My name is Calisa Lewis and when asked to blog here I spoke before thinking, as I usually do. Sure. After all, I blog and host guest bloggers regularly. I’m not completely new to this form of social media though I haven’t been doing it a long time, a couple of years. In fact, the first guest invited to my blog was just last month. I quickly became addicted. So, I was thrilled to come here and blog something intelligent, witty, informative…you  know- my usual style!

Then I sat to write this blog and my mind went totally, absolutely blank. Huh. First time that’s happened to me. NOT! But then IT came to me. One thing I know a little about is writing and getting rejected. Another thing I’m learning about recently is writing and getting a revision request with an offer to resubmit (R&R). So, that’s what I’ll be talking about today. Now don’t go expecting words of infinite wisdom but I will share how it’s been for me this far, and some of the wisdom that has been shared with me by other writers since I got my R&R.

Side note: This is not a typical time line.

I got a request for my full ms on around October 5^th, 2010. First of all, the book was not written. I sent in the ONLY three chapters I had and forgot about the submission for the Hqn Medical fast track that ran in August, 2010. Actually, to back up a tad, I didn’t have one chapter to submit when I decided to take on my critique partner’s challenge. I wrote one. Just one. And sent it in, and promptly went back to the other two projects I had dropped to take the challenge. Two days later a Harlequin Mills & Boon editor emailed asking for the first three chapters. Chapters two and three also unwritten at that time. I spent a month writing them, sent them in and, again, promptly put them from my mind. After all, I had no clue what I was doing with medicals and knew the editor would see that in my writing.

Two weeks and one day later I learned how wrong I was. She knew it was a new project and unfinished. That was all a part of the fast track. Send what you had and see what happens. Well, what happened shocked the pants off me when the editor asked for the full ms ‘as soon as it’s written’. At this point I should point out that though I had scrambled to put a synopsis together at the beginning, I had no clear vision of this story or who these characters really were, or even an inkling of how it would end, other than the requisite HEA. I began plotting and writing said ms—after foolishly promising my editor I’d have it to her by December 25th. Yep- just two months to plot, write, edit, beta edit and then send the ms to her. Was I crazy?? Well, that is still up for debate. But what happened next isn’t, and this is where the ‘not a typical timeline’ comes in. These first steps usually take upwards of three months to get through but thanks to the fast track it gave the process momentum, at least for me. The editor emailed to let me know she’d received the ms and ‘will get back to you in the new year’. Uh- am I the only one who realizes there are TWELVE MONTHS in ‘THE NEW YEAR’?? I reasonably didn’t expect to hear anything again until after March, at the soonest. I let it go and got back to previous projects once more. Life goes on after a submission and how many times are we told to ‘write something else’? This is not my first submission, I know how it works. I write until it’s time to cry over a rejection, then move forward again. It’s a never ending cycle we as writers are familiar with.

Personally- I think it’s not romance that sells more chocolate and wine, but the act of writing romance that sells it- in the forms of; rejections that unavoidably hurt, (those company’s can feel free to ship excess my way any day. It won’t be wasted cos I share!) and more gloriously- while celebrating The Call when that golden ticket arrives. And FYI- from what I’ve heard- these never come at an opportune moment. Not at a time when one can simply sit down and bawl like the baby we are as an infant writer making that first sale. No, they come in the middle of something, be it driving down a busy street (always pull over to get that phone, you never know when it might be the one call to make you run off the road!), helping someone with a project that has you elbow deep in something (possibly unpleasant), or in the shower (removing said possible unpleasantness)- they, ‘the publishing powers that be’, don’t let you plan that moment for convenience. Also, FYI- I’ve yet to hear anyone complain about the inconvenience of timing when receiving The CALL.

But back to me…er, my story. I went back to previous project edits and even began ‘my next Medical’. Next? I didn’t know what I was doing writing a first! It’s addictive folks! That’s all. Then in January I was at my daughter’s cuddling my newest grandbaby and thought to check email, since I hadn’t checked it in all of three hours- 2-week old baby girl, need I say more? I popped off to daughter that “you never know but I might have an email from Flo”. This was January 24^th, just five weeks after I’d sent the ms in. I really didn’t expect or even hope for a reply yet, as I said above. Though I admit I had been a little stalker-ish of the email already. I opened gmail and almost popped a vein. I had an email from my editor! I stared at it until daughter urged me to open it. I couldn’t. Tears threatened. I was scared. It was a rejection. I knew that but if I didn’t open it, I never got it. Ostrich-with-head-in-sand Syndrome. I have suffered this disease plenty in the few weeks since that day.

Yes, I opened the email and nearly cried. Re—vision! Resubmit! She wanted…me to rewrite the dad-blasted thing! Really. Rewrite. Hero’s daughter is adorable, but too happy. No, his wife didn’t run out on him…because she died. My hero is unheroic, my heroine is a puddle of pathetic wuss! Then why even ask for revisions? Why not just invite me to submit something that’s publishable? Did she hate it all??? No. That was all me. I have a fickle muse who doesn’t take criticism well apparently. She’s learning a hard lesson this year. The fact is; my editor didn’t say any of that. Well, she did say some of it—but NOT like that! That was what I read in the five pages of what she didn’t like, and how to make it something she will like better. She took time to write FIVE pages explaining how much she loved it and wants to see it again! She wants me to salvage this ms into a shiny penny!

What I’m telling you is when you get a rejection, or even a revision letter it can be, and often is, overwhelming. Especially, for a new writer getting the first of these letters. I’m raising both hands right now…well virtually, I am. Those first sixty seconds (possibly longer- sixty minutes) after reading a rejection or revision letter should be ignored by you. They do not exist. Why? Because, with either of these blessings- you, the creator of that precious baby, will reject any initial criticism on instinct. Don’t worry. As I’ve learned, it is completely natural. You may feel like crying, DO. You may feel like striking out. DO NOT!! You may think, who do those editors think they are? You know your characters better than they do and my hero/heroine would never be caught doing/saying/acting like THAT! How dare that editor even suggest such rubbish. Ah- but that’s the key word: Suggest.

You wrote it, it is your story. You DO know these characters better than anyone and the editor isn’t ‘telling’ you to change anything. That is solely on you. Your decision. So, take a break. Close or put that letter away and forget it. I allowed two hours before I opened mine again. Then I only copied and pasted it onto a word doc and put it away again. Over the next two days I opened it, closed it, opened it, read it, closed it, opened it…you get the idea. It’s hard to eat those words even though you may be over the moon at the request for a revise and resubmit. So you finally open the letter and read it slowly, with a brain, at last. Maybe ask your cps their views, ask a friend, or even another published author. Thank you Wendy S. Marcus for your patience with my panic attack emails! It’s hard to wrap your head around what is really being asked of you.

BUT, wait…WOW! The editor’s NOT saying my h/h suck. She’s saying they need improvements. And she really likes hero’s daughter, but- well, yeah, she is a bit too bubbly for a child with a brooding, (and as my cp Melinda Pierce calls him- say HI Mels!) grumpy papa bear. Oh look, and what was I thinking making my heroine a doormat to the grumpy bear’s erratic rollercoaster emotions??? Does he love her, or doesn’t he already?!? (If it’s not just one or two cps who thought it, but an editor now, as well, then it actually might be something you need to look very hard at.

Then you begin to slide over to the ‘how much can this ms really suck?’ pit. Beware! Don’t go there because those evil crows of doubt will try to push you in! Remember just one thing, if you forget everything else I say here…YOUR MANUSCRIPT DOES NOT SUCK! Don’t believe me? Then explain why an editor is willing to take time to work with you to make it BETTER if it’s already a hopeless project? Why would she/he ask for you to make positive changes, and if you read carefully that’s what they are- positive changes- if he/she didn’t really like it to begin with? Do you think they don’t have enough ‘good’ submissions that they have time to waste time on sucky crap? No? Exactly. Yours. Doesn’t Suck.

So, grab some wine and chocolate and admit it- the editor LIKES, maybe even LOVES your voice, style, premise- something about you and this story enough to want to see it in publication! BUT. Yep, there’s one here too. Whatever the editor says is ONLY suggestions. They don’t TELL you to change it, but they make (usually very polite) suggestions to you to make necessary improvements. Should you take those suggestions? Do you want to sell that puppy? Yes? Then revise. Should you take ALL those suggestions? If you want to sell, make changes. How you do it, or how much you agree with the editor to change is up to you. I don’t have any words of wisdom for how you should to go about revising your ms. I don’t have any suggestions on how much you should change in it. It’s YOUR story, your decision. I took two weeks, maybe more, before I was able to sit and sincerely consider changing my ms. But all along I knew I would revise and resubmit. How could I refuse such an opportunity when it’s all I’ve been after for six years? That doesn’t mean you HAVE to revise, or resubmit to that editor. Mine said if ‘I WANT TO’. She knew I may not or that I may possibly have another I’d rather send in and take my chances with, rather than go through the pain of trying to ‘fix’ this one, already with possibilities. You may have another you’d rather try on her, submit the first one ‘as is’ to another publisher and see what happens. Just remember: Editors don’t hand out R&R’s like candy. Don’t waste one when you get one. But be true to you and your writing, in whatever you decide to do.

What am I doing with my R&R? I know it will be difficult since it’s my first editor-requested revision. But now that I know my ms doesn’t suck, I know I can do this and still tell the story I imagined when I wrote it. And best of all? I have my editor waiting to help whenever I ask. Didn’t have that before!

Remember, rejection or not- you still hope to one day work with one of these people, and you never know but when you finally do publish a book (optimist speaking here) and have your cozy editor-author relationship…your editor may be replaced out of the blue. It happens all the time. And guess what? Your new editor could be the one you rashly bashed ten years ago for a rejection that, in your true heart of hearts, you know you deserved at that time. You probably even learned something from that rejection, or horridly unreasonable revision letter that helped you finally get The CALL.

Bottom line? Don’t react to a revision letter or a rejection in the first day of receiving one. I emailed my editor and told her I needed some time to consider her letter. I did that after those first two hours when I still had no idea what to do with her request. Her response? “I’m glad you are taking time to seriously consider my offer.” It took me five days to make a solid, professional decision from the head, instead of the heart. And then I emailed her with questions I needed clarification on, before I told her I’d revise. So- Breathe. Deeply. Then go at it in a professional and positive way, no matter which way that is. GOOD LUCK!

Thanks again, Heather Rae. I’m a windbag, but I hope I said something intelligent, or at least useful! Lol

                                                Calisa Lewis

Calisa can be found at her blog, Pen of the Dreamer- http://calisa-lewis.blogspot.com/

Follow her on Twitter- @CalisaMS and friend her at http://Facebook/CalisaSelfridge