I'm in no way the type of person that should be allowed to... well, do stuff.
Last weekend, for reasons that are far beyond me, I just up and decided it was time to submit my novel to a smaller publisher that I felt might be willing to consider my would-be epic first contact novel (ahem... a little something called, The Blutonian Death Egg) that I've been working on in fits and starts for the better part of a decade.
So, I decided to do it. Right then.
But I have no query. No problem. I just whipped one up there in the body of my email and fired it off with the first few chapters. It took something like, I dunno, 10 minutes to do... as I watched an episode of the Walking Dead... and had nachos, and hung out with the family.
Wait, I did what?
I went back and reread my synopsis a few minutes after I sent it and I realized what I'd just done. I spotted a typo, and another, yep, there was another one too. In all, it ran about one typo every other sentence. Missed letters, missed words, additional words. Crazy, nonsensical things that don't make any sense at all. Yeah, all that kind of stuff.
I looked long and hard for an 'unsend' button, I thought google installed a drunk detector a few years ago. It was supposed to warn me when I was about to do something stupid. It didn't work.
Then I got a polite rejection a day later. Nothing fancy, nothing big, just a nice little note encouraging me to keep trying.
So I wrote back.
I know, a bigger sin than sending off a drunken, typo-riddled query that makes no sense.
I only said, basically, that I'm sorry I sent him such a crappy query.
And then he wrote me back. Nothing earth shattering, but this one had a few nice things to say about the sample chapters I sent and included one additional line that I choose to believe means... revise it and send it back.
So, I will.
And I'm clearly a moron.
20 comments:
Well, maybe you do need a drunk detector on your computer. But the second response was encouraging! I keep telling you that story is pure genius and needs to be unleashed into the world.
Definitely revise and resubmit. Sometimes impulsiveness pays off (initially) and now this guy will know you are determined.
I'm just going to join the collective intake of breath. It was nice of him to engage in a conversation about it - and good luck with the revised submission!
Good luck revising and resending it.
Oh crap on the email. I think we should be able to retract them. It can't be that difficult to come up with a way to do that. It could work like a little self-destruct button.
I can relate to this because I have actually been "this close" to doing it several times. Good luck on the revisions!
Well, you know how I feel about the whole query process. But, at least, he gave you something to hope for.
Oh, and I'm going to try to finish killbot today. It's been one of those weeks. :/
No, you're pretty much hilarious. I love it that you had nachos and hung out with the family WHILE typing up a query letter and then sending it. HI-larious.
I do hope you send it back.
I agree, there should definitely be an unsend button.
Hope your second submission works. Sounds like a good story, always liked 'first contact' themes.
JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE
drunk sending...hahaha...but hey, at least they said to send it back when it's all good to go! can't tell you how many time i've wanted to unsend things...anything really
Maybe this is your version of a rom-com "meet cute." Someday you and your publisher will tell this story at a writer's convention, and give hope to all the other writers out there who didn't adequately proofread their queries.
And then next up on the stage will be someone who drunk-dialed their old publisher late one night for a "novella call."
#ring
"Hey... it's me. I know it's late, but I've been thinking about you, and me... and 100 pages of a character study..."
I think that drunk button used to exist, back in the dialup days. But I think emails get zapped too quickly these days.
I've been working with a small press and helping them out going through the slush pile. I might be able to get you a really good look by the publisher.
I had a dream recently that I received a rejection from a publisher I didn't even submit anything to. It was like a pre-rejection or something. Not a great way to start my day.
And you're not a moron to revise and send it back.
But maybe I should give actual drunken querying a try. I'd probably be more relaxed about the whole thing then.
Well, at least he's open to you trying again. Typos are curse of us all. Just remember...always print it out and read it first before sending. Looking at it on the screen only can be a problem.
Best of luck to you :)
That he's answering you is a good sign. So, I'd take it that way, too. Best of luck!
It's good that you got a personalized response. Very nice. And I say you did right by sending it off. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Moron? More like a genius to get a rewrite request. Way to pull out a trium from the teeth of disaster.
I need a drunk detector for late nite insomnia when I send weird e-mails to my friends.
At least the publisher had a sense of humor :)
And please do revise Blutonian; I'd like to see it published. Its a good story.
......dhole
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