Wednesday 9:06 a.m.
The post I was writing just disappeared! Oh well!
I didn't know Pat Kavanagh, but she had a wee place in my heart from the amusing emails she sent me. I assumed from her client list she was the best. She didn't need to bother with someone like me. I mentioned that she obviously didn't need the money with a client list like hers, and she replied that she could have made a lot more money if she hadn't been bothered by the quality of the writing.
When I finished XXXRaBlissBookXXX, I sent her the usual three chapters. Here is her reply:
Dear Hotboy,
I like your tone of voice but, honestly, I just don't see that this is a novel and anything resembling one. It reads to me like autobiography infused with fantastical wish fulfilment and written while high on adrenalin. Speed? Dope?
I know you can write but I don't know whether you can be published. To my eye/ear this first isn't publishable.
I'm sorry about that: as I said, I like your voice.
With good wishes.
You've got to laugh! I put that letter on my wall. The next agent I sent the book to decided to represent it, but failed to get it published. So she got that one spot on!
From her treatment of me, I think she must have been an awful nice woman. Since no one I know personally has died recently, I'm going to dedicate the next seven weeks meditations to her.
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6 comments:
It sounds to me as if she was able to tell the truth in such a way as you make you happy for being rejected.
The soul of a true diplomat. I raise my coffee cup in her memory.
Me I'm such a coward, I don't go back and reread what I've written.
Marie: I wouldn't have expected her to read my three chapters at all. She represented Laurie Lee's estate. As I Walked Out One Midsummer's Morning is one of my all time favourite books. I read it appropriately while travelling on my own to Amsterdam when I was in my 20s. I'm sure she'll be missed by hundreds of folk. Nice when you can say something nice about someone anyway. Hotboy
I say!
Here she is.
MM III
Mingin'! Thanks for that! I wakened up on Monday and practically the first thing I thought was: Do I have a brain tumour? As well as everything else, I'm sure she must have been an awful nice woman! Hotboy
Great cheekbones.
So nobody you know has died recently? We'll see what we can do about that.
"fantastical wish fulfilment and written while high on adrenalin. Speed? Dope?" - what a great tribute.
Onan! If you know someone who's died, let their relees know my rates are very modest! Hotboy
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