erika, wow. That hit hard. Nice.

re: le Guin, not erika

ie, not enough hot alien sex.

She's famous for that one, right?

That packs a gut-punch, erika.

She's famous for that one, right?

Some folks consider it one of the masterpieces of science fiction. t shamefully I've never read it. She's a bit of hard-going for my "blow stuff up!" preferences.

Thanks, Susan. Connie, I've only read pieces and parts... the closest I've gotten to SF in eons is "Gun, With Occasional Music" which is a hard-boiled mystery with genetically altered animals.

Damn, erika. Just - damn.

Betsy, I've never been able to get into Le Guin myself, partly because there are very few things in the genre that echo in me, and partly for the reasons cited in that particular rejection slip.

The difference is, had I been the editor, I would have bought and published LHoD in a heartbeat. She must have been out of her mind - it's extremely saleable.

The point of that one, to me, is that devastating rejection note does NOT mean either bad book or unsaleable book. Just means "not my taste, dear."

Yes, exactly. That was my point, too.

But what was trying to emphasise was that some editors can't see something that will make them rich right in front of their noses. Individual taste needs to share quality time with an understanding of what's likely to sell.

Sucks if you aren't a commercial writer, though. As I know...

I'm done! I'm done! I sent off the file to my editor and am now eating leftover pizza! Relief is sweet. I'll be emailing the whole file to those that asked for it shortly.

He simply lacks the panache to make up for the fortune he was born without.

Susan, I especially liked this line. And when you're feeling like nothing's coming, have you ever tried writing something else completely? Just as an exercise, not the same characters or story, just a memory piece or a short poem or anything that's not what's sticking you. Sometimes I can get unstuck that way.

Ooh, nice new drabble topic.