No go from Carina

Another rejection, and this one really hurt. Not because it was unfair - quite the contrary. Deborah Nemeth from Carina Press said no to my revised version of Hathe. But she did so in a very nice letter, with  both the things she liked about Hathe  and what didn't work for her, and why overall it didn't make it.
Solid gold info for a writer, and I am grateful. It's very kind of an editor to take so much trouble.  After I've stopped sulking and got over the initial downer, I'll go back and do some re-writing in line with her comments. The most annoying part is that I can see her point. She thought my heroine fell into love too quickly with the hero, so that it wasn't credible, which I had sort of wondered about and should have done something to fix before I sent it in. And she didn't like the hero. Which as a writer is totally my fault as I didn't show the conflicts that drive him fully. It's what hurt the most. I love my hero.
Plus she thought it needed to be more subtle. This is the bit I can't seem to win with US readers of all kinds. I seem to be either too subtle or not subtle enough. I'm not sure how much this is a problem of my ability as a writer, or if it's due to my poor understanding of how Americans communicate with each other. NZers tend to use a lot of non-verbal communications, as well as relying on social mores. In many instances, what we don't say is far more important than what we do say. Which is true for lots of cultures - we just seem to take it to the extreme. So when writing for other cultures, I'm always having to make a kind of guess as to what you need to have a character say or do, to communicate a given feeling or response. But since other kiwis can figure it out, then I just have to as well.

Normality and Submitting

I am getting back into writing again. One of my goals this year was to submit more. So I have now followed up on a submission to Mills and Boon Historicals, which I made by email last year. It turned out they had not received my first submission, and they have now entered it into the system. So it does pay to follow up if you don't hear anything from a publisher.
     And I have just sent off Hathe Part 1 to Carina Press, for which I received a 'revise and resubmit' request last year. At the last RWNZ meeting, a number suggested I send off the first part, even though Book 2 still needs a bit of work, to find out if they are still interested and do they want anything in the first part changed that might affect the second part. Since the 'suggestees' were a bookseller (Barbara of Barbara's Books no less) and published authors, it seemed very good advice to take.
     RWNZ is an excellent organisation to join for any budding authors. It is particularly aimed at romance writers, but is chocka with published authors with spot on advice and knowledge for novices, and everyone is very helpful and supportive. Their conferences are very professional, and are always attended by at least one agent and an editor from significant overseas publishers and literary agencies( mostly US) .
       My kids are still fine and slowly getting to terms with 'what now'. Two are relocating to Auckland and the one in his final year at uni is staying in Christchurch.