Wednesday WOLF - Acronym

I've got a collection of random information in my brain that makes me an awesome Trivial Pursuit partner, but is completely useless when it comes to real world application. Like say, job applications. I thought I'd share some of this random crap with you in the form of another acronym-ific series. I give you - Word Origins from Left Field - that's right, the WOLF. Er... ignore the fact that the "from" doesn't fit.

You've probably realized by now that I'm a pretty big fan of acronyms. Yes, it's true. I kind of love them. You can make up a hilarious acronym out of nowhere once you've trained your brain to do it, and it's also a great party skill. Or it annoy the crap out of people... kind of depends on the crowd you hand with.

In any case, what does acronym even mean? It's Greek (like a lot of other things we stole from them) and it means "top name." We take the top letter of each word encompassed by the acronym to make the new name.

There are a lot of acronyms you use fairly often, which I'll rip off right here real quick:

• RSVP: Respondez S'il Vous Plait - French for "please answer"

• PS: Post Scriptum - something you tag on "after writing"

• i.e.: "id est" which translates from Latin "that is" 

• e.g: "exampli gratia" again from Latin "for example"

• etc: "et cetera" again, more Latin "and the rest of them"

• AM: Ante Meridiem

• PM: Post Meridiem

And of course there are about a ton of corporate examples, and if you wander into military territory we're talking about millions of acronyms.

My favorite acronym though is the early Christian usage of ICHTHUS, which is Greek for "fish." The acronym, (again in Greek) stands for "Iesous Christos Theou Huios Soter" meaning "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." Christians used to identify each other by drawing a fish in the sand at their feet with their toe while talking to another person they suspected might be a Christian. If the other person answered with a fish, they knew the could speak openly.

We still use the fish today. You can see it on any number of cars if you look - and now you know why.

Sarah Reida On Navigating Submission Hell

If there's one thing that many aspiring writers have few clues about, it's the submission process. There are good reasons for that; authors aren't exactly encouraged to talk in detail about our own submission experiences, and - just like agent hunting - everyone's story is different. I managed to cobble together a few non-specific questions that some debut authors have agreed to answer (bless them). And so I bring you the submission interview series - Submission Hell - It's True. Yes, it's the SHIT.

Today's volunteer to put up with my SHIT is Sarah S. Reida, whose middle grade fantasy/horror/comedy, MONSTERVILLE: A LISSA BLACK PRODUCTION hits shelves September 20th. Don't miss the Rafflecopter giveaway at the bottom!

How much did you know about the submission process before you were out on subs yourself?

Most of my knowledge came from trolling blogs and reading others’ experiences on sites such as Query Tracker (which I highly recommend; that’s a virtual treasure trove for new writers trying to snag an agent). I knew there were better times to sub than others (i.e., summer months like July and August are dead, as are holidays); and I knew wait times would vary and also depended on the relationship of the agent to the editor who was reading. I was also told that there was no such thing as a “normal” pattern in subbing, so that uncertainty was super fun during such a nail-biting time.

Did anything about the process surprise you?

Not so much, because I’d been warned about every experience being different and knew how subjective tastes are.

Did you research the editors you knew had your ms? Do you recommend doing that?

I didn’t, actually. I trusted my agent to know who fit best with my book, so I just let him/her do his thing. I actually wouldn’t recommend such research, because I’m pretty sure it would have driven me even more insane than I already felt. I could just see following an editor on Twitter and reading WAY into everything posted to determine whether they were referring to my book.

What was the average amount of time it took to hear back from editors?

Ha! There is no average. Some editors will be interested in the book and read right away. Others will go down their queue, or be on vacation. . . It really depends on their schedule, because editors are busy! There are conferences, edits and deadlines, and fires for them to put out. Some editors are eventually written off as non-responders, or they’ll need to be nudged by an agent when enough time has gone by or another offer’s on the table.

What do you think is the best way for an author out on submission to deal with the anxiety?

Red wine! Kidding. . . kind of. Okay, not at all.

But besides that, a positive and constructive distraction is another project. That can be really hard if your mind is occupied, however, but eventually you’ll get over the stress and find something creative you’ll want to do. (To quote my favorite writing movie: “A writer writes, always!”). And honestly, it will give you hope if you don’t sell. Maybe this one isn’t the one that got you your deal, but the one in the works will. Especially since as a writer, the hope and expectation is you grow and improve with each project.

If you had any rejections, how did you deal with that emotionally? How did this kind of rejection compare to query rejections?

Oh, everyone has rejections. Dozens of them. By that time, I was numb to it, since I’d queried three different books before I landed my first agent. I was expecting rejections.

The only way I think you can deal with a rejection is to: 1) keep in mind you were good enough to get an agent to stamp his name on your book; 2) know that this industry is soooo subjective (maddeningly so); and 3) absorb any constructive criticism, if offered.

If you got feedback on a rejection, how did you process it? How do you compare processing an editor’s feedback as compared to a beta reader’s?

I took any feedback from an editor very seriously. That’s writer gold; these are the folks who know what sells in this industry and how to edit a book to make it sell. If an editor offered criticism, I respected and considered it.

Beta readers are great and I’m fortunate to have several agented or published writers I swap with, but when the readers are someone like your mom or your friend, you have to take the criticism for what it’s worth. Some of those comments can be helpful, like “I didn’t understand this plot point” or “I didn’t understand X’s motivation,” because they’re reacting the same way other readers might, but they’re not editors. Editors trump all. After all, they have the power to get you published!

When you got your YES! how did that feel? How did you find out – email, telephone, smoke signal?

Honestly, I was so tired at that point it barely processed. I was in California for work when my agent called and I asked her to repeat it a few times. I’d been on submission for. . . well, I’m not going to say, but this wasn’t my first or second time at the rodeo. But when you want something so badly, and love doing something so much, you don’t give up.

Did you have to wait a period of time before sharing your big news, because of details being ironed out? Was that difficult?

I couldn’t put it on Twitter or my website or announce via social media, but that was fine. I’d waited years - what was another few weeks?

A Picture Of A Thousand Torments, Or: A Literal Pile of Rejection Letters

I often tell aspiring writers that I started writing queries back when everyone knew what an SASE was (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope). Those were the days when receiving letters to yourself in your own handwriting made your heart sink... and honestly it still kind of does. I recently went through my box of rejection letters - yes, I had box for them - in order to remind myself of the struggle.

My debut, NOT A DROP TO DRINK was my fifth finished novel. I wrote four books before that, none of them deserving of publication. And that's said without bitterness. I've read the manuscripts I wrote 15 years ago. Or, I tried. I actually DNF'd one of them.

Which one?

Funny you should ask. Check out this rejection letter I received for my upcoming release, THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES... then check out the date on the letter.

That's right, June of 2001.

The novel that is releasing next week was rejected - over and over again - 15 years ago. And with good reason. The first (and subsequent) drafts of that particular manuscript were below subpar. They were, in fact, quite bad. When I decided to revisit the concept with the intention of revising it as a YA novel, I thought I might use sections of it. Maybe a scene or two. Perhaps some dialogue.

Um, no. I even blogged at the time about how bad it was.

There was nothing salvageable about that manuscript. It was poorly written, had a saggy middle and an abrupt end, populated with characters that I cared little for who spoke in awkward, unbelievable dialogue. Is it really that bad? Yes, it really is. If you're curious, check the hashtag #BadFirstNovel on Twitter where I shared snippets back in January of 2015.

You'll see by the handwritten note at the top of the query from 2001 that I did garner a partial request. More than one, actually. But none of them turned into a request for a full, and again, if you check out #BadFirstNovel, you'll see why.

I'm sharing all of this with you not as yet another example of "never give up," but rather, "never stop improving." If I had continued to query for fifteen years but never bothered to improve my craft, I guarantee I would still be receiving rejections.

W.E. Hickson famously said, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again."

I would add to that, "Ask yourself why. And fix it."