In my Opinion

OPINIONS are like…

Buttholes (that’s not the word that I usually use) and everybody has both. The same goes for Advice. Why am I telling you this? Because publishers and contest judges have opinions, advice and...well, you get my meaning. I sent my first manuscript to six publishers; two offers, two rejects and two that I still haven’t heard from. My contest scores from other manuscripts were 75, 75, 95 and 50, 60, 90. Yes, they were all reading the same manuscript.

My very first reject letter was three pages long and I thanked the editor for taking so much time to point out all those things that were wrong, but two other houses accepted the same manuscript. And a couple of my reviews stated that they liked the so-and-so that my reject letter had pointed out as being a bad thing. Opinions. It’s all about opinions.

I feel obligated to point out that my current editor did work her ass off for me and I deeply valued her opinion.

Not everyone that reads your work is going to like it and on the flipside, not everyone that reads your work is going to hate it. I had one critique partner that told me that I should remove all the hells and damns because a publisher would make me remove them anyway. Obviously, she and I weren’t meant to be together and thank heavens I didn’t take her advice. I mean really, people die in my books, have wild sex, and hells and damns are part of the overall makeup of the characters.

Sooo, the object of the game is to find a publisher that likes your work. But don’t forget to consider any advice you get especially if several give you the same advice. I mean really, there’s always something you can do to make the manuscript better.

Kitty

November Ab-delicious

Abs and water. What more can you ask for?

Okay, I know. Drop those pants.