An Encouraging Rejection

After I sent out the Dutch manuscript to several Dutch publishers, a few of them responded rather quickly. One wrote they didn’t have fiction in their fund, another they couldn’t use the story, and the last one was another rejection, albeit an encouraging one.
This is what they wrote:
"Several of our editors have reviewed your MS and all agree that your MS is of good quality. We enjoyed reading it and are sure there is a market for it. However, we had to reject your MS because we don't carry this genre in our fund."

They further wrote they hoped another publisher would accept the MS, and even gave me another Publisher's name they knew carried my genre in their funding. (That one already wrote me they couldn't use it.) Now I'm waiting for the last two (big Dutch publishers) to respond. On the English front: This month I expect the result for the Rose and Crown (Sunpenny) Novel competition. I sent them 2 manuscripts.

I shared the news with Mary Rosenblum, Web editor of LongRidge’s e-newsletter, and she commented as follows:

"Ah, aren’t those near misses frustrating, Petra? But it means you’re close. And she is also working on other projects. Petra, you are a busy writer! Way to go, girl!"

The boy who lived up to his name

Since Na’il’s death, three months ago, my life has changed in so many ways.

Mourning takes time, that’s what I’ve experienced. I’m easily overwhelmed by seemingly small things, and thought that writing about the 12 years that Na’il lived with us, would be a matter of a few weeks. But there were days I just couldn’t handle the overwhelming emotions and had to leave the manuscript for what it was. There was no deadline, and nobody told me to hurry up and finish it. I was the tyrant who wanted to have this project finished, before continuing with the novel that had been on hold since February.

Reading through old newsletters in order to remember the highlights, was tiresome and exhilarating at the same time. Because I now saw the overall picture, I realized God’s grace and strength during the often difficult and challenging years, in which one crisis seemed to follow on the heels of another. But we didn’t have a choice, thus we grit our teeth, and went on.

The raw version of the book about Na’il’s life is posted chapter by chapter on the website, and I’m now proofreading and editing the printout.

When I’m satisfied with the end product, we’re going to print it ourselves and those interested can order it via mail. At the moment I don’t know how many pages the book will be. In order to keep the cost as low as possible, the book will be printed in black and white, but include two pages with coloured photos.

Slowly, hesitantly, I’m inching my way back to continue with my stalled novel.

Taking the Plunge

I sure did last week! Having two book manuscripts ready, (in English) I figured I wouldn't loose anything by entering a writing competition. Not only could the winners earn a monetary prize, but their novel would be published as well. The Biblical/historical novels fit their category, and so I sent them off. At least now they will be read by professional people and what's more, I won't have to wait for months on end to get the results: these will be posted already in May!

The Dutch translation of FIRST FRUITS IN JERUSALEM was also ready to be sent out, so there I took another step in faith, and sent them to several Dutch publishers as well. The 'waiting game' is always the hardest part, but like the professionals taught me - I just have to continue writing as always.

Depending on what's happening in my life (I'm still mourning our precious son) I've noticed that gradually things are returning a bit to 'normal', and I find myself able to concentrate better.

I'm networking with more people worldwide, (good for exposure) and see what doors the Lord will open up next. For now my greatest priority is the basic version of a book about Na'il's life on paper, which then will be translated into Dutch. Each finished chapter I post as an PDF file on the website, under Na'il's page. It pains me having to put my new novel on hold, but I can't work on too many projects at the same time, that drives me crazy. Even though people asked about a sequel to FIRST FRUITS, I feel the novel about WWII that's on my heart is important, especially with so much Holocaust denial sprouting up everywhere!
Step by step, day by day, we'll see how it goes.