No-Confusion.

Song of the day: “Thank you Stars” by Katie Melua. A bit melodramatic, I guess, but it’s still a sweet song.

I’m a bit confused at the moment. I got a response from the publisher who was interested in having a look/see at Saving Nina, and wasn’t (still am not) sure what to do with it.
Let me quote you some of the stuff she wrote to make you understand why I am confused.

“Thank you…(etc. etc. this is just intro, now comes the confusing part)…This heart-wrenching story is exciting, fast paced, and engaging. While I found the premise interesting—(a little explanation to make sure I understood she did read it through and knew the premise of the story. That is very nice, by the way, because there are times when one doubts. But I’m drifting, here’s the cincher:)—the writing just isn’t strong enough to stand up in today’s market. (And then something about it not being right for her at this time.)” Huh? What the heck is considered “strong writing” if that little sum-up, up there, doesn’t count. If something isn’t good enough, how can it be engaging and exciting? Isn’t that all that matters? Apparently not.

It was all very polite, within six week of sending it and…totally confusing. Personally, that start of: heart-wrenching, exciting, fast paced etc. etc. would make me think that she’s thrilled with it…heck, I did think that. My heart was beating a mile a minute while I read the email…only to have my spirits plummet to the earth with a resounding crash. (Yes. That huge boom you heard yesterday was yours trule, jeez!) But anyway, it was a no on the basis of what they call a shortage “strong writing”.

I know, this was not a personal dig of her towards my writing, and I did not interpret it as such, it just threw me for a loop, if you get my meaning. I really do appreciate the response, since she was under no obligation to do so, and in a way it was even complimentary, even though it doesn’t get me anywhere, but still, I would so much like for someone to explain to me what they mean with these terms. At times it almost is as if the terms are made up just to confuse them poor writers. Gawd, this sounds so whiny. Scratch that, please.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind in any other way than that this just means I have not yet found the right publisher for Saving Nina, and perhaps need to make a few more adjustments at some time in the near future. But when I look up what is construed as “Strong writing” I come across academic and journalism sites. Which is even more confusing, since I always thought that thriller/romances are works of fiction, and therefore require a different type of writing than, let’s say, a column or an article.

But I’ve been delving into it for a bit, downloaded some present works of fiction and to my astonishment realized that they have indeed brought descriptions down to a bare minimum. Short, concise, less-is-more sentences that have lost all shapes and forms of literary flair. Such a pity too, seeing as they removed as much semi-colons and colons as they possible can (meaning practically all) and are now basically focusing on stories that are told in commas and periods for as far as punctuation is involved in writing.

So I’ve decided on an experiment. I’m going to try to write a very simple, concise, less-is-more style just to see how that will be received. I will do it under a different name, of course, something with the same initials, but still, different because Samaya Young is definitely me, and how I write.
A pity too, since this was a friggin’ big publisher that would have been the perfect spot for me.

Ah well, no matter. What’s done is done, and by now there is nothing I can do to change matters.
I am, as of today, ten pages into the new story, finding a challenge in keeping my sentences short and as basic as I possibly can. Who ever knew that doing basic would be so darn hard. Hah. It will be an adventure to see if I’ve finally figured out what the problem could possibly be.

Okay, on to different matters. The dogs: Yesterday we finally took the opportunity to bathe them in the anti parasite bath. Not all of them, mind you, just the ones that were bothered by the majority of ticks, and overall they hated us for it. Seriously, even the labs who generally love a swim, detest the stuff so much that they’ll look like we’re taking them to the slaughter when we wash them.

There is still lots of watering going on, of course, even though the weather has been remarkably cool for the past few days. Good thing too, considering it shaves some time off that particular chore. We’re still eating the pumpkin stuff too, which is delish.

Also, the new freezer arrived, meaning that soon we’ll be able to save anything that doesn’t get eaten from the yard. Tomatoes, zucchinis, etc. Maybe even the beets. Hmmm. I should check that out.

What else. Oh yes, we’ve been working on the trailer, which, for some peculiar reason has still got some wires wrong, darn it. Seriously, in a particular sequence the darn things will light up like a Christmas tree. Hah.

Well, I should get some serious writing done now, short and concise, of course.