Author Heather Frese On Getting Close... But Not Quite When On Submission

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 guest for the SHIT is Heather Frese author of The Baddest Girl on The Planet, Heather Frese's fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, The Los Angeles Review, Front Porch, The Barely South Review, Switchback, and elsewhere, earning notable mention in the Pushcart Prize Anthology and Best American Essays. She received her master's degree from Ohio University and her M.F.A. from West Virginia University

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

I thought I’d done a lot of research and really understood how the submission process worked. I went to panels at AWP about getting an agent for a novel and figured it would be fairly straightforward. I did get an agent, revised with him, and he sent the book to the big publishing houses. I got several close calls, but nothing stuck. As the initial manuscript submission process happened, I was going through a ton of life changes, getting married and moving and getting pregnant caring for a newborn, and I lost a lot of steam getting another novel ready for him to send out. I asked him if I could keep submitting The Baddest Girl on the Planet myself to small presses and contests and he said that was fine, so I switched to focusing on that, which is how the book eventually found a home.

Did anything about the process surprise you?

I was surprised by how much I didn’t know was going on when the book was going to big presses, and I was surprised by how long everything took.

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

When I had an agent sending it out, I didn’t research the editors. But when I was sending it myself to small presses and contests, I researched a lot and really targeted presses I thought would be a good fit. I’d definitely recommend researching contests to see if your book seems like it would be a good fit.

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

Gosh, when it was out with the big houses, I think it was several weeks? A month? I can’t really remember. Contests took up to a year to hear back.

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

I dealt with it by moving about once a year and getting pregnant three times, which I do not recommend as a strategy, but it sure did keep my mind off of book things. I hear the best thing to do is work on a new project. I guess my new projects were babies, so maybe I adhered to that advice in a skewed way.

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

I went into it expecting the rejections, so the standard “no, thank you” sort of rolled off my back. What was harder to process were the close calls, the editors that really liked the book, just not quite enough to publish it for whatever reason. I had one time I was a semi-finalist in a contest and then didn’t advance to the finals, and that was hard. I’m not sure how I dealt with it. Just sort of processed through feeling like crap and then sending out again.

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 did take it a bit more to heart when I got an editor’s feedback, particularly one who said they lost sympathy for the character at one point in the novel. I got enough close-but-no-cigar feedback to balance it out, though, and I also figured going in that the structure of my book was unusual and might not work editors looking for mass appeal, so in that way I sort of dealt with it as I would from a beta reader, taking what was useful from the feedback and leaving the rest.

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

The YES was completely surreal. So surreal. I was in Dallas visiting my husband’s family over Christmas break when I got a voicemail from an editor. I didn’t quite catch the name of the press in the voicemail. At that point I was on baby number three and hadn’t submitted in more than a year, so I was wracking my brain to remember where the book was out, which press or contest. My husband had dropped off me and the kids at a McDonald’s and gone to the store, and I decided I couldn’t wait any longer to return the editor’s call. With the baby strapped to my chest and the older two encased in the play area, I phoned Robin Muira and realized the press was Blair. We chatted for a bit and she asked if the manuscript was still available, and said I was a finalist for the Lee Smith Novel Prize.

It was at that point that the older two starting shouting from the play area that I needed to watch them go down the slide, and could they have some chicken nuggets? We’re hungry! Mommy! You’re not watching me go down the slide! Robin asked if I had experience working with editors and would I be open to revisions and possibly rewriting a chapter, which I was completely fine with, and Mommy, watch me, Mommy, I’m hungry! I managed to take a page of notes about the contest prize details and Robin asked if I had any questions. I asked when the winner would be announced. She did a little sotto voce consult with her officemates and then said, “We’ll just tell you now. You won.” It was this intense euphoria realizing that a lifelong dream was going to come true, mingled with the everyday banality of childcare and chicken nuggets.  

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

I did! I was able to tell my inner-est inner circle right away as long as I swore them to secrecy, so that helped, but there were a couple weeks between finding out and being allowed to share with everyone. It felt similar to finding out about having a baby but waiting until the first trimester passed before sharing the news—like knowing you’re about to experience this huge, life-changing event, but sheltering the news in your hands for a bit before offering it up to the world.

Dating, Depression and Double Espressos - Author K.A. Masson On Writing As Escape

Hello there! My name is Kat Masson and I’m a new writer, based in London, UK. I published my début novel in October 2020, though it took me four years to write it, and it was kicking around in my head for ten.

I hadn’t written anything longer than an email since my college dissertation, and not since school had I produced anything that was entirely fictional. But when my relationship began to seriously fall apart as a result of my partner’s serious depression, and with a young baby to look after and having to keep working as I was the only breadwinner, I turned to writing down my thoughts as a way to cope with the stress.

The first of these musings was an imaginary journey, written late one night. I had tried so many different approaches with my partner. I knew he needed help to deal with his depression, but he refused to do anything. Actually, that’s not entirely correct. He did go to see our GP who then gave him some anti-depressants and signed him up for talking therapy sessions. A week or two after starting the medication, and spending much of the time asleep, he stopped taking it, complaining that it made him ‘feel nothing’. That was that. He went to one of the sessions but had no appetite to continue.

I had a friend from a baby group, another new mum, who I talked to a lot at the time. Her partner had suffered badly from depression but had recently turned a corner and was improving. But she told me she no longer loved him; she too had tried everything and felt like she’d just completely run out of patience and sympathy. She told me how, at times, she felt like throwing the baby out of their second floor window. I completely understood. Depression breeds depression, I think.

The enormity of my dire situation, and my then inability to see a way out, became too much one evening and I had what I now understand was my first and only depressive episode, possibly post-natal. I described my emotions, and then detailed how I would grab my handbag, get in the car, stop at a petrol station to fill up, and then head out of London on the M1, north, and keep going until I hit the west coast of Scotland, around 500 miles away. I would find a quiet spot on top of a cliff, wait for sunrise and then drive at high speed towards the edge, Thelma and Louise style.

This escapist fantasy didn’t last. My son, asleep in the room next door, turned over in his sleep, and the green lights on the baby monitor gently glowed before dying down. What would happen to him? I was shocked at how seriously I had considered the trip, however briefly. I felt guilt, so much guilt, but at the same time it had made me realise that I needed to do something, and that matters would not resolve themselves on their own. It took two years but I finally managed to get my ex to move out. My son and I began our lives as a smaller unit. Going it alone was a scary prospect at first, but I really believe we have both been happier, calmer and more content than if we had continued to live with his dad.

To this first piece, I added a few scenes typed on my laptop and grouped together in a folder entitled ‘Dating, depression and double espressos’. A friend who I mentioned them to said I should start a blog with the same name. At the time, that sounded like quite hard work; what did I know about writing a blog?

The blog didn’t materialise, but the idea of a book did. In early 2017, after a design contract ended a month or so earlier than planned, with an amazing stroke of luck, I found myself enrolled on a short course at the Faber Academy in London: ‘How to Start a Novel in a Week’. That gave me the impetus I needed; I had to continue working, but at any time when I had a free day or even a few hours, I worked on the book.

The day before the first lockdown in the UK was announced, I had a call from one of my main clients; their Head Office in Germany had put an immediate stop to all marketing spend. This meant that all the projects I was working on would either grind to a halt or not happen at all. On the upside, I knew this also would mean more time to write! At around the same time, Mark Dawson’s Self Publishing Formula beginners’ course, 101, was open for registration; the timing was so fortuitous, I jumped at the chance to do this. In tandem with writing, I worked through the course, learning how to build your audience, setting up an author profile on Amazon and other retailers, how to find advance readers… it was all exciting but absolutely new territory for me.

Through the course’s Facebook page, I met a fellow new author based in Pennsylvania, Jessica Stone, who was writing a memoir, Craving London, about her time in London in the 2000s. We really clicked and began having regular video calls, talking about our writing, dating (we had both done a LOT!), children (we were both mothers) and life in general. We both supported each other as our respective publication dates grew ever closer. And now we are both about to embark on Book Number 2… actually this Saturday coming, Saturday 1 May. Not only, as writing buddies, will we hold each other accountable, it will also be a lot more fun than going it entirely alone!

K.A. Masson is a graphic designer who lives in London with her teenage son and cat Slinky. Alter Ego is her first novel, jump-started by a chance encounter with a Faber Academy “Start Your Novel In A Week” course. She is fascinated by books with a psychological element and the lengths people will go to when pushed by anger, fear, jealousy, and hate, and is currently working on her second thriller. You can find out more at her website, kamassonwriter.com.

Actress & Author Reagan J. Pasternak On Healing After the Loss of A Pet

Today we welcome actress and author Reagan J. Pasternak to the blog! Her book Griffin’s Heart, is an interactive guide to pet loss and navigating the grief process. Through journaling, healing exercises, and contributions, readers will find an outlet for their pain while creating a keepsake filled with beautiful memories. Author Reagan Pasternak’s own story unfolds as the pages progress, reminding readers that they are not alone in their sorrow and that hope exists for all of us.

Pet loss can be highly traumatic for owners, but there aren't a lot of resources out there for someone to process it. What made you decide to fill that niche?

I think the grief, and incomplete feeling I experienced after losing my soul-mate animal, Griffin, was so prevalent in me for so long, that I initially started writing Griffin's Heart as an outlet for my own pain. I needed a way to communicate the specific way I was interpreting the loss. I wanted to understand, and find meaning in what it meant to love and lose an animal. Eventually I realized how many other people were feeling exactly the same way as I was and I started writing the book with other mourners in my mind. That's how the book evolved into becoming something so interactive, and ultimately a keepsake. I never set out to fill a niche exactly -- I was just completely compelled to immerse myself in the project and hoped it helped people heal.

Do you find that some people push back against the idea that the loss of a pet can be just as painful as losing a family member?

I think that many people absolutely dismiss this brand of grief. In fact, I have a chapter entitled "Some People Just Don't Get It" for that specific reason. I actually just lost my fourteen year old dog last week whom I loved with all of my heart, and, let me tell you, this pain is real. But I have learned to share my grief with only those who really have gone through something similar. Honestly, you are the only one who will ever really understand what your animal meant to you, so you have to allow yourself space to honor that and work through it.

The pandemic brought about a rash of pet adoptions. Do you think this is a good thing, or do you have some concerns that a "pandemic puppy" may end up losing its allure once it's time to go back to work?

I absolutely think it's a wonderful thing. Having animals out of the shelters has been a silver-lining to this whole pandemic disaster. Of course there will be some people who look at animals as objects rather than a living being who deserves a life-time commitment, but I'm going to choose optimism here and know that most people will fall in love with these animals and have them in their lives for a long time.

What do you hope people will take away from Griffin's Heart?

My wish is that people feel a sense of peace and validation. I hope that by completing the journaling, exercises and creating a keepsake, they will feel that they honored their pet and that the pain feels a little lighter. I have learned that there are endless lessons we can learn from grief -- from love, really. I hope they can find the same sense of growth that I did from opening myself up in that way.