Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.
- Napoleon

Monday, April 9, 2007

Potpourri

There's a few things I'd like to talk about today, so we're going to have a potpourri... Or a cornucopia, whichever you prefer.

First off, let me draw your attention to the agents over at Bookends, LLC. Today's post The Synopsis is particularly pertinent, considering I just blogged about the same thing recently. See? I'm not just talking out the other side of my... Well you know. They're basically saying the same things, with valid credentials to back them up. =oD

Second, Maya Reynolds - that awesomely bright gal - has written a sparkling post today about Tackling Writer's Block. She's spot on as usual, and I couldn't agree with her more.

Third, over at Romancing the Blog, Kimber Chin has written a poignant post about the value of romance novels called A Romance Novel Fable.

Finally, I'd like to take a moment and think about yesterday's blog post "It's a Buyer's Market". I didn't know when I wrote it, but today I received an especially disheartening rejection to my requested partial for Caldera. As always, I am not going to say who sent it, and I am not here to lambast the person in question. That would be crass.

It just reaffirms my belief in the 'buyer's market principle' (BMP - as I will call it from here on out). I read the letter and felt like my house was the ugliest one on the street... For about an hour. (Okay, maybe two.) I let the five stages of grief wash over me and I wallowed in the grief for a while. Then I got a wonderful e-mail from my CP, and she was as dumbfounded over this letter's contents as I was. In fact I think she was madder than I was about the whole thing. (She didn't go through the rest of the five stages... Why would she?) I feel much better now, and I am eternally grateful I have found such a wonderful and empathetic CP.

Now, as a last addendum to this whole mixture of info, allow me to point the way to Erika Writes and her post Feedback Gone Wrong as she details what can go wrong with a CP, and what can go right. Thanks Erika! It's a great post.

I'll be back with more tomorrow. Now it's time for a quick smoke and my nightly writing time.

6 comments:

Alex Adams said...

*Hugs* I think that particular agent needs to read a little more widely in that genre. More comments to come via e-mail.

Thanks for all the links, especially about the cp. You were marvelous in picking "instant Christ" in my ms. That one just glided right by me :D

Erica Ridley said...

Awww, I'm so sorry to hear about your less than encouraging agent/editor feedback. Rejections are tough enough without having inappropriate or nonsensical contents. I'm so glad you have such a supportive CP! Thinking of you...

B.E. Sanderson said...

Thanks guys. You're great.

LOL Alex. I'll never forget 'instant Christ".

Niteowl said...

Great post! But, uhm, what's a CP? I was thinking... perhaps a beta reader? But that just doesn't fit.

B.E. Sanderson said...

Sorry about that, niteowl. CP is short for Critique Partner, which is like a beta reader, but more so - providing valuable insight and helpful hints to improve your work while you do the same for them. (If that was more information than you needed, I apologize.)

=oD

Tia Nevitt said...

Sorry to hear about your disheartening rejection. I've kind of lost the query momentum myself, although I still have several out there. I should have some time this weekend to send some more out. However, I have focused my attention on my next novel and probably am not querying like I should.

I also saw the BookEnds post on synopses. Fortunately, I think I found a way of writing synopses that works for me, but it took a while for me to reach that point.