Keep Calm...

My brother, two of my cousins, and one cousin’s baby daughter invited themselves over for lunch today. That sounds worse than it was – my brother called and said, “We thought we might stop by next weekend,” and I said, “Lunch or dinner?”

Then, worrying that I’d been too abrupt on the phone, and they might not think we were delighted for them to come (which we were) I sent invitations, asking them to a Whitley-style Sunday Lunch.

My maternal grandparents, Olwyn and Elfed Whitley, had their four children, their husbands and wives, and the eight grandchildren round for a Sunday lunch at HQ every week throughout my childhood. When they started to get older, it became every other week, or we’d have big celebrations at my mother or aunt’s house instead.

Even now they’ve passed on, the family still makes sure it gets together for big events, usually at Sunday lunchtime, and now featuring grandchildren’s spouses, partners and children. We’re really quite numerous at this point, and many of us live far away from Wales (we're almost four hours drive, as are my cousins in London) but we all make the effort to be together for the big occasions.

Anyway, so when I was trying to decide what to feed my guests, since we were right at the end of our food budget for the month, I thought, “How on earth did Grandma do it? How do Mum and Dad do it now?”

And then I realised. They cook our favourite, traditional, heritage dishes – sometimes more, sometimes less. So I started making a list.

Today’s Menu:


Starters

Tuna pate on toast

(This was the start of every Sunday at HQ, because people never arrived at the same time, and it was something easy for everyone to nibble on. An appropriately aged grandchild – usually me or my brother - was nominated pate monitor on arrival, and had to make it and hand it round.)

Mains

Mum’s Devilled Chicken Drumsticks
Dad’s Rice Salad
Grandma’s Stuffed Baked Potatoes
Auntie Barbara’s Shallot Tart
Green salad
Bread
Crisps

(We will be eating leftovers for the next few days...)

Dessert

Brought by my guests!

Chocolate pudding and cream
Emma’s fairy cakes

(I also bought after dinner chocolates to pass round, like we always did at HQ, but I’ve just realised I forgot them and they’re still in the cupboard. Bother.)


I made the potatoes on Wednesday, because they freeze really well, and reheat in 40 minutes. The chicken I marinated last night, so it just needed roasting today. The tart was new for me, but turned out well. And everything else was very straightforward, and was prepared before people arrived. I love having family round, and realise now why my family have always catered in this way. And after so many years of helping Mum and Dad, or Grandma and Granddad, prepare, I found I knew exactly what needed to be done.

And now I’m having a cup of peppermint tea and a rest.

Even the most nicely phrased “No” is still a rejection. But even the bluntest refusal has something you can learn from it.

I’m lucky; my latest rejection is full of encouragement, advice and helpful comment. And now I’ve gotten over the sting of it also being a “No,” I thought I might share it with you, line by line, along with my thoughts on how I’m going to use this valuable resource.

Background first – although it’s all in my earlier posts, if you want the nitty gritty. Basically, this is from a super agent – director at one of London’s biggest agencies – who took a chance on me and an earlier novel a couple of years ago.

Even after a lot of work, that one didn’t sell, and I’ve been trying to come up with something else she might like for the last little while. She shot down my latest manuscripts – Dream a Little Dream and An A to Z of Love. Here’s why:



Dear Katy


Sorry it has taken me a little while to come back to you. I do think you should share your work with other agents, yes, because you are a good writer and your work has charm and may well appeal to someone else more than it does to me right now.

She’d mentioned before that she just didn’t love these books enough, but that the passion required was, of course, subjective. I’d asked if she thought I should share it with other agents, and this was a good, honest, helpful response to that. I’m prepping the manuscript for submission now, based on her feedback and my own gut instinct.

I’ll be totally honest with you, wanting to be helpful more than tactful. Commercial fiction is terribly susceptible to fashion and although trends come and go quite quickly they totally dominate the markets while they reign. There was a point a few years ago when vintage-y, romantic, rural, wistful fiction was ‘in’. And it probably will be again before long. But right now your ideas and writing style feel a little out of step. Publisher aren't buying many debuts at the moment but when they do they are modern, harder-edged, witty and sexy rather than gently humorous. (Or they are book club reads - sort of accessible-literary).

This is useful market information. Unfortunately, hard, witty and sexy are not really my forte (pity my husband...) I don’t enjoy that sort of thing so much, and so I write it very poorly. This is one area where I might just have to wait for trends to change. I’m actually working on something in a totally different genre that might have more success, so perhaps it’s time to focus on that for a while.

I liked the warm tone and lovely detail in DREAM but the characters felt rather cliche'd to me, especially the older generation. I am really sorry, but I think putting a lot of old people into a book for young people is a big risk. Similarly, in AN A TO Z, the first few pages feature a dear old soul. There are loads of members of the RNA out there writing books about people in their 50s, 60s and older and they're not getting published. Write about young people! At least you know what it's like to be young in 2010...

This is really helpful. Unfortunately, in DREAM the older generation are vital to the theme and meaning of the story. This tells me that this didn’t come across strongly enough, and I need to work on it. That said, there are things I can do to make it feel ‘younger.’ The main couple are in their late twenties, which is fine, but there’s also another sub-plot couple, a little younger, who have very little page time. I think that developing that sub-plot more thoroughly might balance things out better. Obviously, I also need to do some deeper character work, to make them feel more real. I’m already working on ideas for this.

In A to Z, however, the older lady sidekick could really be any age. If I revise this for submission later in the year, maybe I'll make her in her forties, instead. We'll see.
You are a very able writer who definitely deserves to be published. If you want to write rural communities, that's fine, but make sure the emotional storylines feel modern or relevant to your generation. Have a look in the shops at what is working in this area (like that Herriot type stuff, about being a modern vet, I forget her name). And keep your characters in check; they are liable to run off with a scene and change its tack altogether at the moment! Use dialogue more sparingly, to leave room for action. Don't lose your sweet romantic touch but up the ante in plot terms.

Again, fantastically useful. Lots of things to focus on in the rewrite, and in future books. I need to sharpen up my scenes, my dialogue, and do some more plot work. Yes, that’s a hell of a lot, but did you read the first sentence of the paragraph? She thinks I deserve to be published. That means I’ll put in all the work necessary.

It's not easy to criticise someone who seems on the surface to be doing everything right but I hope some of this feedback is helpful and I definitely do think you should seek other opinions. I am sure quite a few readers will spot your talent.

All my very best

So, despite the work ahead, everything here is encouraging – at least, that’s how I choose to view it!

What did I do next? I sent a grateful, polite and warm email back, to which she responded very positively again – leaving the door open for me to send her something direct in the future, if I think it will suit. That’s a nice position to be in.

Of course, I know that some rejections are much harder to learn from. On the face of it, a form letter tells you nothing at all. But look deeper. Do you need to work harder to hook the reader’s attention from the off, perhaps? Or do you need to do serious work on your plot/characters/writing style? If you’re not sure where to start, get other people to read your work. Online critique groups, writing groups, even a very literary friend (as long as it’s someone you trust to tell you the truth, however hard).

Keep at it, and you’ll progress to the personal rejection – and mark this as the triumph that it is! Someone saw enough promise in your writing to tell you what you need to work on next.

Perhaps the most important thing is to see each rejection as a step forward. You’re marking time, paying your dues and – most importantly – learning every single step of the way. Take encouragement from your rejections, and they’ll be worth much more than the paper they’re printed on.