Highs and Lows

This published author gig is full of lows and highs.  (I know, it's supposed to be highs and lows, but sometimes the lows outweigh the highs.) 

In the last four days I've had two lows and one high.  The first low:  I wasn't invited to a library gig--as a published author--that I was invited to last year as unpublished.  That bummed me.  Now I've got a published book under my belt, I've got experience talking to people.  I might've sold a few books, or enticed readers to take my book out of the library.  (As it happens, that library only has one copy of my book, and it was checked out.)

On Monday I got a devastating rejection.  What makes it so upsetting is that this is probably the end of the road for this particular manuscript.  (Thanks to way too many things beyond my control.)  Writers look at all their completed manuscripts like they're their kids.  No one likes to hear that their baby is ugly.  It's also painful (and dismaying) to hear you have a pretty baby, but not pretty enough.

I allowed myself to be pretty miserable for 24 hours on that one. 

In hour 22, the phone rang.  It was a librarian inviting me to come speak at her library.  It's not as good as a contract in the mail, but it cheered me.

And in between the highs and the lows is the next book.  I'm falling behind on my own self-imposed deadline.  But maybe not.  I'm aiming at a certain word count, but I asked my editor about it and was told I have quite a bit of leeway.  So at this point, I have something like 27-45% completed on my first draft.  I haven't written a book in this way before (knowing the outcome before I finish), and a first draft is just that--the first attempt at the story/book.  I'll be making a lot of changes, adding texture and details (and a lot more description) in the subsequent draft(s). 

Luckily, I'm having a lot of fun with the new bookseller book.  But bouncing back from rejection is taking its toll on my muse.  I'm glad my deadline for a first draft is self-imposed.  And I have a feeling Tricia, Angelica and Miss Marple will get me over this rejection hump in no time.