SED - Day 07 - Painting, Facebook, and My First Rejection Letter

[teddy_radiator]

I apologise that I'm constantly sending you DIY photos, but this is all we're doing, so I'm going to bombard you, I'm afraid!

I got my first rejection letter today. On the one hand, the agent rejected me because she is currently not taking ANY manuscripts right now, so it wasn't a personal rejection. It's filed away, as my first, though. Hey, JK Rowling started out like this! My ambitions are surpassed only by my delusions.

In other news, we finished painting the alcove today, and it looks so delicious - the colour is Seasoned Loganberry by Color Place, Matt. It is the cheapest of the cheap, but goes on in two coats and looks fantastic. We still have to touch up the door jams, especially where my bratty cat Sevvy has scratched the paint.


Tomorrow we have to work, but we start on the floor this weekend. I'm not looking forward to dealing with all those door jams. The door we had in the bedroom nearly drove us nuts. It also looks like we will just barely have enough flooring. I thought we were doing well, but perhaps I underestimated. We had very little wastage in the SteamLib. Only one whole plank was messed up, but it was in a very difficult angle and these things happen. Everything else was just off cuts. We were extremely careful, but apparently not careful enough. If we don't screw anything up, we should just be able to make it.

We also finished the chimney breast and redressed it again today. Even TheHubs™ was impressed. He was famously reticent about the colour, but he loves the way it shows off the doors in the alcove, and the items on our mantle:




The Steampunk 'hand' lamp is nearly finished and looks great. And the license plate guitar is looking pretty good, but it's not quite done yet. I hope to have photos of these items this weekend.

We still have quarter round baseboards to get, and Sunday we are purchasing a nifty wooden desk chair via Craigslist (no worries, we are meeting the seller in the parking lot of a very popular restaurant) for only $50. It looks exactly like what I've wanted. It's all happening!!

Facebook challenged me for the THIRD time today, but finally said they were okay with it. We'll see. I'm so over it. Life is good, money is tight, but we'll slowly but surely get this done.

I'm sorry I haven't commented as much today as I have before, but I will try and remedy this - I promise!!

Hugs to you all - Mwah!

Comments

[shadowycat.livejournal.com]

The fireplace and mantelpiece look great! I love what you've done with it. :D

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much - we are notoriously lazy, but when we start on something we'll go for it whole hog!

[hbart.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised at how fast a letter, acceptance or rejection, comes to you. Please just remember that so many great authors before you were rejected multiple times. It truly is no reflection on you, just not the right curcumstance. Because even if you know it in your head, I'm afraid your heart will be broken if they keep pouring in. Just don't lose sight of the goal. And, your house looks lovely!

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

Thank you for such encouraging words. I know loads of better writers than me have suffered the ignominy of the multiple rejection letter. I believe in the story and I believe I've written it well. Let's hope someone else does as well.

[ex-logospil.livejournal.com]

The mantelpiece is absolutely stunning!

~Hey, JK Rowling started out like this!~

Stephen King, too! *high five* :-)

Often, rejections are simply a matter of personal taste... Nothing to do with the quality of the material or anything.

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm just going to keep plugging away. I believe it's worth the heartache! LOL

[gelsey.livejournal.com]

So much work! You all are doing so well.

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

Thank you! We've only had the house for 7 years and we've done nothing apart from putting laminate in the front room. We're making up for lost time.

[mimimanderly.livejournal.com]

Oh, Teddy! The alcove looks wonderful! What an elegant color! That was a great pick! And the fireplace, too! Are you sure you aren't hiding Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen there somewhere? Don't hold out on me now!

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

Thanks, sweetie! I hope LLB would approve - I am having so much fun with these bold colours. I would never have thought TheHubs™ would go for it, but he's loving the colour as well!

[blueartemis07.livejournal.com]

That really looks lovely.

[adelaidearcher.livejournal.com]

I LOVE that colour, and the fireplace - it looks sensational!

[beffeysue.livejournal.com]

Lordy, I just love that color. The fireplace is beautiful.

[kittylefish.livejournal.com]

hooray for all the awesomeness! and i am counting the rejection letter as extra credit because you gotta be really brave to get one of those things. ;)

[tamlane.livejournal.com]

To me, apologizing for DIY pics is like... I dunno, apologizing for chocolate cake or something. Gimme all the DIY pics!!

The fireplace area looks KILLER.

[perverse-idyll.livejournal.com]

What an excellent eye for color you have! The alcove and fireplace are turning out amazing. Warm and elegant at the same time.

Ugh, okay. You've broken the ice on the whole rejection business. There will be more to come, there always are, and that inevitability has no bearing on the quality of your work or your eventual career. You're a powerful and sensual writer who will attract an audience; there's not a doubt in my mind about that.

Unfortunately, publishing is prone to overwhelm and snap judgments, so it falls on the author to be patient. And to have the stamina of an ox. Some of the same qualities one must have in order to finish writing the novel in the first place and slog through however many revisions it subsequently takes to get it submission-ready.

Meanwhile, congratulations on taking that step and sending it out. I wish you all the success in the world.

[darklotus1211.livejournal.com]

Love the colour - what a difference a lick of paint makes, eh?

I'd planned on painting through my place last summer but my ill health put the kibosh on that and we're into true winter weather here now, so next spring it is!

I may do a touch up or two but painting during winter is always painful, so I just have to be patient and besides, hopefully by October/November I'll have more stamina - I had a relapse with the anaemia a month ago and caught it before transfusions were necessary but have to have a course of IV iron infusions (or, as my doctor calls them, my "bag of rusty nails"). Anyway, I should be fully up to par by the time spring is sprung!

Keep posting the DIY pics - I love seeing them and it gives me a vicarious thrill! (how sad is that??? lol!) I really do love that colour - well chosen!