Rejection

A new post?

A new post.

That’s almost two posts in a week, which would be impressive if this weren’t the first week of this blog’s life.

I’ve always had a slight problem with procrastination.  All throughout University, I would make things up as I went along.  Why do readings when I can make up answers well enough to pass?  Why actually research papers when I can write them at the last minute and then find quotes that fit my point three hours before the paper has to be handed in?

Why clean now when I can clean tomorrow, or the next day, or never?

If I leave plates out long enough, they’ll biodegrade, right?

Procrastination and getting writing done don’t go too well together.  The number of times I found myself distracted while writing my first book, well, it turned what should have taken me six months into a two year process.

And it did take me two years, after editing, to write my first novel, an 80,000 word ‘behemoth’ (that’s sarcasm, which sadly doesn’t translate well on paper).

So now, planning the sequel to my first book, I’m struck with more procrastination.

Character planning?  Drawings of locations, styles of dress, working out the economic trappings that move an entire continent?

Why would I work on that, when I could just watch TV?  Or clean?  Or cut my toenails?

Somewhere the procrastination will have to stop.  I just haven’t figured out where yet. 

It’s like the age-old depiction of good and evil, tiny figures standing on peoples’ shoulders, opposites eternally telling us to do the right thing, or do the wrong thing.  Well, procrastination sits in the middle, its feet covered in unchanged socks, lounging in a reclining chair in a half-open bathrobe, eating popcorn and watching the Discovery channel.

Or maybe the History channel.

Or maybe Fox.

Whatever procrastination is watching, it sits there, waiting and listening while good and evil battle it out and then, when one of them inevitably wins and says you should do something, procrastination chimes in, popcorn bits spraying out of its mouth like a fire hose while it says, with more whine than Italy, ‘fine, but do it laaaater’.

Right.

So, that was a rather long and unnecessary analogy.  Where was I?

Right.  I have a lot of planning to do, sorting out a new continent for a sequel, populating it, creating and drawing an assortment of secondary and supporting characters, really just creating a world.

And I just can’t bring myself to do anything but watch Brooklyn nine nine.

It’s terrible.

So that’s been the progress on a sequel this week.  Thinking about maybe starting and getting distracted by television.

There has been some progress on getting my first novel published at least.

And by progress I mean I got my first rejection letter.

WOOOO partyyyyyyy

I’m going to get it framed.

No seriously.  Framed and put on a wall.  This first one, and every one that comes after.

It came from Penguin/DAW, and was not bad, for a form rejection.  Thanks for applying, don’t give up, we can only take the best because of the failing market on books, you know.  The usual.

Or what seems like it might be the usual anyway.  I’ll find out when I get the next rejection letter, I suppose.

p.s. For anyone interested, below is what a rejection letter looks like.  Woo!  Rejection!  Party!