Out of the ten rejections, I had two agents generously respond with feedback that (especially in
one of them) explained why they took a pass. Maybe it’s not surprising that the feedback I got
in ‘bootcamp’ had many similarities. Listen. Two or three years ago, when I was starting this
whole project, I heard repeatedly: “Writing is rewriting.” I said “Yeah. Yeah.” But now I’m
beginning to know what that means. It feels like there’s no finish line. Learning the craft is
another ‘lifelong learning’ effort.
For those rejections that returned the next day (one was even later the same day!), I realize
there must be agents who have a cadre of interns reading and screening. But overall, writers
and the writing community are very generous with offering help. Writing immersive prose calls
for a certain headspace. And when I go back and read what I wrote months before, I often
think, “Oh, you can do better.” Finding the balance with setting description and emotional
(even visceral) reactions has been for me, like a pendulum swinging. Good thing the best part is
having fun making all this stuff up!
