I just signed my first contract with Samhain. I submitted Devil Falls in November 2007. Tera of the Most Impeccable Taste emailed me on March 11 my time. I read her email before I had my coffee. So I thought it said, “Thanks but no.” So I was about to put it in my “R” folder when my BF said, “She says she wants it!” BF to this date doesn’t understand how I could’ve possibly gotten a “no” out of a “yes”.*

Some of you might wonder why it took me so long to sign…after all, it’s already May. It just took me a while because I’m unagented and had a lot of questions. Special thanks to Chrissy, Tera and Elaine for being so patient with me!

The book is coming out in Fall 2008. I’ll post more details later.

* Note to Self: Don’t read anything important unless you had your coffee, especially if you had very little sleep for about a week.

I mailed Devil Falls to Harlequin UK in July. Their confirmation letter indicated that it would take about 18 weeks or so to hear back.

But I got their response today: a 2 page-long personalized rejection.

The editorial assistant started her letter by apologizing for the delay. (I was actually happy to receive it sooner than expected.)

She complimented on my voice (“a really strong voice for writing romance”), characterization, description / setting, and the heroine and liked the occasional humor. But ultimately the story didn’t quite gel for her. She gave three areas of concern that I should consider for my future work — all of them valid — and stated that she would like to see more of my work.

Despite the rejection, I feel good about my experience with Harlequin UK. The process was smooth, everyone very nice, and I found her comments very valuable.

Unfortunately I don’t have anything suitable for Harlequin Presents, but when I have something I’ll definitely send it to the editorial assistant.

P.S. In case anyone’s thinking I’m totally crushed or something, I’m not. I’m actually happy with her comments. Devil Falls was my second completed manuscript. I have no regrets because I gave it my best shot and made it the best work I could when I submitted it.

Wow. I just got a confirmation from Harlequin UK that they received Devil Falls on July 13. It’s really fast since I mailed it on July 10.

Now I must patiently wait.

I just mailed Devil Falls to Harlequin UK.

The total cost?

¥2,085

That’s about $18.45 (USD of course).

Now I just wait.

Finally, Devil Falls is finished and printed and bound. It’s currently sitting in an envelope, waiting for the post office to open tomorrow morning.

I really wish Japan Postal Service operated 24/7.

It’s been months since I last read Devil Falls. Now…now…I reread and find errors…typos…continuity mistakes….

Ack, my world’s falling apart.

What’s an anal retentive writer to do?

And you know what I’m really afraid of? It’s that after the last and final touch-up, the manuscript will still have typos, etc.

:blowup:

I just got a nice envelope from London. Harlequin Presents would like to see the full manuscript based on the proposal received. Although I feel happy at the request, I’m also feeling very nervous as I’m not sure if the manuscript is going to be strong enough or not. Remember this was the second manuscript I completed since I decided to get serious about my writing.

Now I have to print it out and read it over before sending it off this weekend. Wish me luck!

I got a white envelope from London this afternoon. So logically I thought, “Wow, what a quick rejection slip!” :w00t:

OK, before all of you start flaming me for being such a pessimist, I just don’t have such high hopes for poor Damien and Victoria, that’s all. And I couldn’t believe that Harlequin read my proposal in less than two weeks or so, including the transit time.

Actually, it turned out be an acknowledgement of receipt. Now I wonder how they’re going to respond because they used my SASE, which was the reason for my thinking that I got rejected because the envelpe was quite thin. (until I remembered that I only sent a proposal and that a request for more materials would be also thin…just a one page letter)

So now I wait. But boy, did it make me feel sheepish!

Devil Falls is now gone to England. I mailed it SAL because the regular air mail was very expensive (¥480 v. ¥780). Thankfully, despite my very limited Japanese, the postal worker was able to help me with buying an IRC (¥150!), etc. before mailing the proposal.

Now I wait.

Chris tinkered with the rejected copy of Devil Falls. Now he thinks I should resubmit it. The query letter can be recycled, but the synopsis really shouldn’t — I think it can be stronger. But at the same time, I don’t have the enthusiasm to get the thing written and mailed, and I think he’s unhappy that I’m not too enthused about it.

Perhaps it’s because of two things:

1. I don’t think it’s going to sell, and therefore it’s a waste of my time to try to get the synopsis written.
2. Even if it does sell, I don’t have another category romance in me at this point, and I don’t have any suitable category romance ideas.

I’m not saying this to be nasty about category romance. Some of them are fantastic and fun to read. But I also think that it’s not something I can write all the time. At least I don’t think so.

Now he’s telling me that if I get the synopsis written, he’d take me to Shimonoseki on Sunday for a nice day trip. It’d be lovely (provided the weather cooperates), but now I have to do something: write the synopsis and mail it. He says it’s only three pages long, but obviously he doesn’t realize how difficult it is to write a good one.

Anyways, I’m going to brood on this some more.