Thursday, November 4, 2010

GWA

GWA stands for Goober Writers Anonymous. It's the brainchild of Emily White and an occasional feature over on her blog, Emily's Playhouse.

You all know how hard I brake for support groups, so I had to jump on this one. Today I will be posting about pretty much the most ignorant noob writer mistake I ever made. It was almost two years ago now. It's pretty embarrassing, but if you can't laugh at yourself you're probably not ready for the sea of rejection that attempting to get published will bring anyway. So I soldier on.

I won't go into it anymore here. Just head over to see the post.

26 comments:

Matthew MacNish said...

I forgot to mention that the post if phenomenally long, so don't feel obligated to read it all. If you want the best part, just skip my query and get to the angry part.

Candyland said...

I love that you just commented on your own post.

Bish Denham said...

Oh Matt, you are SO brave to have posted that letter AND the responce. YIKES!

Old Kitty said...

Oh wow. Matthew Rush. Well at least Mr Redacted replied in length and gave you some pointers as to how to query!!

Oh my goodness. Thank you for sharing. What a brave thing for you to do. It's a lesson for ALL of us! LOL! Take care
x

LTM said...

I'll check it out after company leaves--but I love me some Goober.

Actually, I'm more a Floyd girl. :D

Sarah Ahiers said...

oooh, on my way to check it out

Karen Baldwin said...

Yup, you got writer balls to share.

Slamdunk said...

Sounds promising--I on the way over.

Kelly Polark said...

Wow. Thanks for sharing that!!! (and great that you kept it all)
I can't believe you emailed them back and they responded! Though I agree with you that they were like Simon. They were tough, but you needed to hear it!

Jessica Bell said...

Oh my gosh, I just went over and read it. I feel sick. LOL. Oh, well. We all learn from out mistakes!!! hahaha

Drop by and enter my CELEBRATE THE LITTLE THINGS GIVEAWAY!

Melissa said...

I'm off to check it out. Sounds like fun.

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

Ah, now this I have to see. You are a braver soul than me. My newbie mistakes will remain buried in a dark, dark place for some time to come. Off to go check it out...

IanBontems said...

Kudos for sharing Matthew!

Colene Murphy said...

Will def. check it out. Thanks for sharing your learned wisdom!

Colene Murphy said...

OMG! *cringe!* I almost didn't want to read any farther when you said you wrote back to his rejection! and then it only got worse! Wow. oh wow. ouch. I'm so sorry!

Carolyn Abiad said...

Wow...You are definitely a brave soul!

Talli Roland said...

Wow, Matthew. Wow! You are one brave man.

Southpaw said...

I read the whole thing. You are so brave. Thanks.

Angela Ackerman said...

I'll check it out. It would be hard for me to decide which noob mistake I made was the worst...lol

kah said...

Love me some Goober! :)
Hmm, watch Andy Griifin reruns or read more blog posts? Decisions, decisions.

Tracy said...

Matthew, I love you for being humble enough to lay it all out there like that. Since I know a bunch of us wandered into this right around the same time...isn't it strange to see how much we thought we knew and DIDN'T.

Shannon said...

On my way there now. Sorry I'm so late. Long ass day.

Jared Larson said...

Just glad I'm in good company. And also glad that there is more than one agent to submit too. I think we'd all be screwed if we only had one chance.

Ishta Mercurio said...

Hi Matt,

I missed your post yesterday, but caught it today and posted this in the comments (in case you miss it):

Oh, Matt. I already had a lot of respect for you, but that respect has increased tenfold after reading this. It takes so much bravery and humility to share an experience like yours, and to allow us to learn from your experiences, and to feel that we are truly not alone in our own mistakes. Thank you, and bravo to you. This community is better with you in it.

------------

Anyway, I just wanted you to know how amazing I think you are for even sharing this. Most people would have shredded it up, blocked it out, and pretended it had never happened. But you kept it, will continue to learn from it, and have passed on the message. Thank you.

A.J.W.W. said...

It's okay, Matthew. I once (at the VERY beginning of my very first querying attempts) tried to bribe an agent with homemade salsa and wine to get him to critique my query. Get this. I titled the email: "Wine, Not Whine" and then went on to explain that I was hoping to "wine (not whine) and dine him." He was at least nice enough to reply with a "Sorry, can't do that."

We all make mistakes. I'm so proud of you for sharing one of yours so others (hopefully) don't make the same mistake. As for me, I'm still in the "effing up on queries" closet, so I'm going to post under my other blog and keep my real identity secret (although, you probably already know who this is).

This is proof that you are a MUCH bigger and better person than scared little me. You are awesome, thanks for all you do for us.

Mike Winchell said...

Holy Mother of God. 475K, Matthew?! That alone is mind-boggling. Did you start writing the MS when you were 2 years old? Thanks for sharing. Question: How many pages is that? My guess is 1800 pages? Wow, still numbs the mind thinking of it.