In February, I sent my novel out to three wonderful ladies, who said my novel was great and made several very good suggestions for improvement. I incorporated the changes, using 'track changes' so I could un-change them later if I thought of an even better idea. Then I put the doc to one side and got on with lots of other stuff.
And completely forgot about it until this week when I decided I should submit it. At first I thought it was a few easy 'accept change' issues, but then I got to a part where a character arc needed to be clarified - going right back to his introduction, I think. So now I'm heavily into revision mode.
(You'll note I'm finally using the word novel... It's 50,600 words - which is very, very long for me. I just hope I don't revise too much and bring the word count down too far.)
I did manage to submit another piece though, which came back a day later saying 'D'oh, check our guidelines, we don't do this!' - which would have been fair enough, if I hadn't tweeted them to check the very thing they complained I hadn't checked. I was a little bit annoyed, so I immediately sent it out again - at about 11pm last night. I'm not entirely sure I do my best work at 11pm, so I'll just have to see what happens.
Have you ever made/almost made silly submission errors?
Hi Annalisa - it's so easy to get carried away writing and forgetting to check things out .. I'm sure we all do it - I only blog ... but I can imagine with a novel it'd be daunting ... good luck with the submission though ..cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteThanks Hilary. I can make errors in a comment, a Facebook post or a tweet too :-)
DeleteGlad you caught that! I'm bold - I pull up the original file and make the suggested changes there while going through the one that's marked up.
ReplyDeleteI haven't quite worked out the best way to make the changes yet - but I imagine actually completing them is important :-)
Deleteoh yeah - double triple check before pressing send. I'm even careful on blog comments. Too easy to make mistakes. Good luck on what you've sent!
ReplyDeleteI do check, but I was sure this novel was complete and I'd just not got round to submitting it anywhere!
DeleteWell. Once, when I was still querying, I had the terrible luck of pressing the wrong button on Goodreads, which ended up spamming every single one of over 100 agents with friend requests...
ReplyDeleteOh dear... :-)
DeleteI once sent out a query letter in which I had misspelled the editor's surname and the thing is I had doubled checked it twice. Needless to say, I never heard back from that editor ever again.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the progress with your novel and good-luck with your submissions.
Ah, yes, I can see spelling the editor's name wrong wouldn't bode well. Annoying when you've checked it though.
DeleteWhen querying an agent who required a 1 page synopsis, I spent HOURS trimming my 2 page synopsis down to one page. Then I sent the query and forgot to paste the synopsis in. Had to follow up with a second "Ooops" query.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I never got a response from that agent. :P
Oh no, after all that work! I often have to send 'oops' follow up emails, but so far - touch wood - not when it's been important. I did reply to a blogger who was interviewing me without attaching the interview.
DeleteThat's not fair they said they weren't looking for that when you'd already confirmed they were. Obviously not everyone at that place got the memo.
ReplyDeleteThey said they hadn't so far... which to me sounded as though they wouldn't be adverse to a submission. I will be generous and say that I obviously misunderstood.
DeleteI once entered a query giveaway then realized I was completely unprepared when I won. Was able to get the query done and fixed up but it came close. Got some good feedback. Always be careful before you submit or enter anything.
ReplyDeleteWell done for managing to get the query done!
DeleteI'm glad you submitted your piece right away again - someone will be very lucky to get it. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Julie :-) I've got my fingers crossed!
DeleteIt always pays to double check, but yes...I have made silly mistakes when I was rushing. That's how I learned to always double check my emails. Good luck, Annalisa!!
ReplyDeleteI sometimes cringe when I re-read emails that I've sent out already!
DeleteBest of luck with your submissions and it never hurts to double (or triple) check :)
ReplyDeleteTriple, quadruple and - er, whatever comes after that :-) Thanks Mark!
DeleteHi Annalisa!! best of luck with the submission and I am wishing you a wonderful Monday :)
ReplyDelete