James M. M. Baldwin's Camden Avenue

Top ten actual rejections to my queries:

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 18:16:54 GMT

Honorable Mention. We wish you the best of luck with your marketing efforts

#10 I wish you every success in finding the best representative for your work

#9 I wish you the best of luck with the project

#8 We wish you the best of luck in your search for the right agent

#7 Good luck in finding a home for your book

#6 Good luck in your quest for publication

#5 We wish you all the best in finding other representation

#4 We urge you to submit your work to other agencies

#3 We hope you will soon find an agent with whom you can establish a productive relationship

#2 Our team appreciated the chance to hear about your project

And the #1 actual rejection to my queries

Thanks so much, this looks very interesting, but...

Hot off the press. A new #1 actual query rejection has just come in,

Thank you for thinking of Blankity Blank Publishing, but the story line is too close to something we are already considering.

An Edit Becomes a Rewrite

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:40:11 GMT

I’ve been away for a while. It seems my most recent edit trimmed my manuscript down to 68,000 words. In the process, several new ideas came to mind and my editing became yet another complete rewrite. So, after approximately six edits and four complete rewrites, the manuscript once again stands at 75,000 words. I guess this means the beginning of another query process. I have targeted several agents I think could be a good fit. Wish me luck. I’ll need it!

Strunk and White’s Elements of Style

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:28:52 GMT

What a great little book. Call me a nerd, but Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style” Fourth Edition answers many of my grammar questions in one neat little publication. From simple punctuation to more complicated issues of structure, this book covers it all. William Strunk, Jr.’s original “Elements of Style,” originally published in the 1930’s and sometimes referred to as “the little red book,” is updated to fit modern writing tastes by E. B. White in this little silver book. If that’s not enough for the grammar nerds and writing enthusiasts, this little style manual is now available in an illustrated version. That’s right, illustrated grammar. What more could a word nerd ask for?

Yet Another Rewrite

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 04:37:21 GMT

Taking the advice gleaned from the writer’s conference, I’ve embarked on a fourth rewrite. I’ve also eliminated several characters and combined them with others just to simplify things a bit. I’m beginning to think a manuscript is never finished until it is sold and published. It’s been almost a year since I abandoned my second manuscript in midstream to undertake the first rewrite.

Writers Conference

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:10:53 GMT

I recently attended the Heartland of America Christian Writers Conference in Kansas City. What a lot of information to try and soak up in a short period. I felt like a sponge trying to absorb every little bit of information I could glean. Trying to decide which of the simultaneous classes to attend was probably the hardest part. Taking advantage of the personal critique was the most valuable twenty minutes at the conference. I also met people from my own town who have a writers group four miles from my front door.

Blessing in Disguise

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:19:34 GMT

All of this rejection has made my manuscript even better than it was. I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to have a successful novel, it’s not just a great story. All of my characters were screaming out for personalities. The manuscript now exceeds 75,000Words. After a final polishing, I believe “The Prophecy of Camden Avenue” will finally be ready for publishing. But, oh, how to achieve that goal?

Writer's Group Let Down

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 01:52:08 GMT

I seem to be getting only nibbles with all this. I think I'll try and meet with some other writers and see if that helps. Our local Barnes and Noble Booksellers listed a writers group on the calendar on their website. I decided that might be a good place to make a contact or learn some valuable information to help in my goal of getting published. So much for that idea. I was the only one to show up. It’s hard to have a group with just one person.

Rewrite

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 21:45:00 GMT

This is taking more time then I thought. Meanwhile, several interesting plot developments have surfaced from the back of my consciousness. Suddenly the story is even better than it was and has grown to more than 65,000 words. This is just to good to let go to waste. I’ll try and find a few more literary agents that might be interested. While I wait to hear back from them, I’m going to put down on the page episode two. That has been boiling on the back burner and is now screaming to be let out.

Shameless self-promotion

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:46:25 GMT

How is someone going to find my web site? I’ll just put the word out via several online forums that I frequent and my website will be the most popular thing since sliced bread. Oops, maybe not. One well-respected writers forum banned me for posting the same information in three different areas on the board. They called it “Spamming the board.” Three almost identical posts are considered Spam? Sorry for polluting the water cooler. On another not-so-well-respected forum, one particularly odd user, decided to attack me for the purpose of his personal entertainment, without ever visiting the site. Not making very many friends like that. Hmm, now what?

Website

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:31:51 GMT

Okay. I’ve got a great idea to promote the publication of my book. I’ll just create a website and I’m sure to attract some attention from a publisher or agent. I’m a pretty good artist so I’ll just draw some computer images relating to the characters in my book and add some information about the story and everything will be cool. Hey, wait a minute. This drawing on the computer is a little different then with a pencil and paper or paintbrushes and canvas. A little effort and I have a fairly decent site. Now people will flock to see what all the commotion is about. Right?

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