Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Cloudy today. Those featureless gray clouds to say that winter is almost here.
I really was quite weirded out by all the TFoC arcana yesterday. Looking back at the entry I made late yesterday afternoon, I don't think I did a very good job of conveying exactly how weirded out I was (or am). Anyway, here's a fairly typical example of the many rejection slips I received in early 1993, while desperately seeking an agent who would represent an unknown author's first novel. It's from the Peter Lampack Agency in NYC (I have no idea if this agency is extant or not) and is a personalized form letter (the personalized bits are in brackets):
April [14], 1993
Re: [The Five of Cups]
Dear [Ms. Kiernan] :
Thank you for your letter regarding representation of the above-mentioned work. Unfortunately, having carefully considered your proposal, I am not confident we would be able to place your work successfully with any of the publishers with whom we work most closely. Today's market, as you know, is fiercely competitive.
Yes, you are the recipient of a form rejection letter and I apologize for this. It does not mean that I have not read the entire letter or package you submitted. It does mean that I am desperate and need to move fifty pieces of material off of my desk today. Once again, I am sorry if this format offends. We thank you very much for thinking of this agency and wish you the best in finding the right representation for your work.
Sincerely,
[Deborah Brown]
Deborah T. Brown
These things absolutely devastated me at the time. Now, they just make me feel . . . strange. That was almost a million years ago, it seems.
Last night I had a big, geeky pre-The Two Towers dinner party. I made a pot of chili, watched the new episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and then the Platinum edition DVD of The Fellowship of the Ring. The new, longer edit is really nice, and I think I actually liked it better than the theatrical release, which is unusual, as I usually feel that deleted scenes were better off deleted. The movie wasn't over until about 1:30 a.m. I hadn't seen it since June, I think, and had forgotten how utterly amazing and beautiful Jackson's vision of Middle-Earth is. Obviously, I'll be off to see The Two Towers this evening. There will be ents and wargs!
Meanwhile, today I get DSL and so will be joining the 21st Century (for whatever that's worth). Also, I'll be working on the introduction to TFoC. I only hung one picture yesterday. I have to do better than that.
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