Monday, 12 April 2010

The Flu…And Waiting

In case you’ve been wondering where I’ve been (no?, okay) I’ve been laid up in bed, recovering from a nasty bout of flu. I thought I’d escaped the dreaded visit from the flu fairy, but alas, no. I also managed to pick up a lovely side order of neuralgia, but that’s another story.

So while I was prone and at my weakest, the crows of doubt began to circle, naturally. They were great in number, with much more fury than ever before.

They questioned everything – from my ability to ever take another clear breath to their favourite subject, my ms at Richmond. You know, the one the editor’s had for almost 21 months…yes, you heard right. Come July, I’ll be celebrating my ms’s 2nd birthday!

Logically, this prompted immediate concern about how my baby was doing. Was it was being fed, watered, cuddled to sleep at night? Or had it (mostly likely, according to the crows), met a dreadful end?

Unfortunately, this second scenario persisted, prompting a reminder of how some other M&B books had met their end. I dug up this old article and it made for grim reading.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/3330245.stm

If actual published books had met such a sorry end, what hope does my unpublished ms have? Who can save my baby from ending up as a cushy, absorbent “no-slushiness” road paver?!

But on a positive note (never let it be said that I’m all about the cloud), I’ve got new story love! Bastien the Swiss Banker and Ana the Supermodel now have 10 pages worth of story to keep them busy.

Hear that crows??

16 comments:

  1. Ouch - that's a nasty story.

    But your ms is still out there and I know 21 months is a long time, but there's still hope (wasn't Maisey Yates' ms - the one she sold - out there a similar length of time?). Meanwhile, try NTAI and concentrate on the new story. And chocolate - you deserve lots of chocolate.

    XX

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  2. Thanks, Suzanne. Unfortunately I'm low on chocolate; consumed it all over the weekend :(. Don't worry, I aim to restock tomorrow. NTAI is such a brilliant idea but alas I haven't mastered it (totally) yet. Am trying though :)

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  3. What a bizarre story! Oh, Maya, big hugs from NZ. I think it sucks that you've been waiting so long. I was hoping for news for me today but no, it seems my feeling sick and nervous must continue. So must the circling crows. They've been telling me my partial is crap and that I'll be rejected again.
    NTAI doesn't work for me either btw. Here, have a chocolate martini and let's put a huge scarecrow up.
    Go the new story!

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  4. Thanks, Jackie. Choccies, martini and hugs well received. JG was on the eharl board earlier and gave the (general) encouragement to query eEditors again, so I have. We'll see what happens.

    Hugs back at ya. Keeping fingers crossed for good news for you.

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  5. Well, not that this is probably any consolation, but I had a submission with HQN Spice for about 3 years... never did hear back from them, other than they sent me the self-addressed postcard back to let me know they'd received it. And I've gotten R's from agents 2 years later (and, I'm happy to announce, AFTER I've sold the ms on my own. :))
    Here's hoping you hear back soon.

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  6. I have a strange feeling I might, Piper, and soon! A Spice for 3 years...that just sucks! Big time. Kudos on finding that baby a home, though :).

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  7. I hope you feel better soon. And just remember those crows of doubt are full of hogwash. Or bad corn. Or whatever it is crows eat. You CAN do this. You can, you can, you CAN! Somewhere amongst all the waiting and the R's is a YES wanting to happen. It'll find you soon. :)

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  8. Oh, I like the sound of that, Felicity. And just to make finding me a little easier, I'm wearing red today! Lol about the hogwash/bad corn bit. Thanks for the "feel better". I getting there :)

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  9. Maya, I hope you are feeling much better after your bout with the flu. BTW, we bumped into each other on the UK Editors forum at eHarlequin. I presented you with the gold medal for patience. ;-)

    Here's hoping we both hear fabulous news on our babies very soon!

    Trenda

    P.S. You're right; that news story is depressing! I'd never read that one before now.

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  10. Grrr. Both on feeling sick and also the ridiculous wait. I really hope you hear soon, 21 months is super painful :-(

    As for chocolate, you don't deserve a little bit, you deserve the whole bloomin factory!!

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  11. Hi Trenda,

    Good to connect with you here :). Still hanging on to that gold medal, lol, but I'm very willing to give it up, aap really. I am feeling much better, thank you and yes, I hope we both hear soon!

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  12. Jo, finished the chocolate, now started on the cookies. Diet? What diet? Yep, 21 months in two days! Might have another choccie party then!

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  13. I had no idea you'd been waiting so long! Hope you've managed to restock on chocs. I've developed a thing for werthers originals and am hopelessly addicted...

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  14. Lorraine, yep, I have. Unfortunately. Werthers...hmmmm! I've been known to demolish a packet of the chewy ones in seconds!

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  15. Blimey, what a wait. Crazy! Looking forward to reading the new one...

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