Rejection’s Are Okay

Rejections are okay, they are not the end, just a step along the way.

I want to talk about rejection. Specifically about the Query process and query rejections.  I have a finished manuscript also known as a novel or book. I have a cover letter called a query letter that outlines the story and me. I have a synopsis prepared, that is an outline of the entire novel in two pages. 

With all that ready to go, I research Literary Agencies and Literary Agents carefully. I’m searching for one that represents my Genre and subgenre’s, one that I feel would be a good match for my project and me. Then I follow their personal or agency submission guidelines and send them the materials they want to see. (Never send more than what they list)

Then I wait. I check my email like an addict and hit that refresh button as if I can’t function without doing so. Each time I hold my breath, scrunch my eyes and pray to see a Yes, please send more materials.

The dream is to get a yes and then have the agent fall in love with the manuscript and want to represent me.

This is the road to Traditional Publishing. It is a bumpy road full of rejection potholes. 

So what happens when you get a rejection from an agent?

First, the emotional let down is akin to being punched in the gut. They are after all rejecting my heart, soul, and hard work. Oh, and they are rejecting me. It sucks.

Here is a sample of a rejection email I received.

“Thanks so much for sending along the sample pages of Prophecy Ink.  I’m sorry to say, though, that I just wasn’t as completely drawn in by the material as much as I had hoped.  What with my reservations, I’d better bow out.  Thanks so much for contacting me, though!  I really appreciate it, and wish you the best of luck.”

As it turns out this one was what is called a FORM rejection. A copy-and-paste response. While we hope and pray for some feedback from rejection, the reality is that Agents are busier than we think and this form saves them time. They already spent time reading the queried material they listed to send. I figure the agents are hopeful when they open a query, “Maybe this will be the one,” and when it’s not, I bet they are crushed a little. Now they have to reject someone and their hard work. That has to suck to do. Even if it isn’t personalized the responses are polite and I appreciate that.

If I have an email to respond to, I will thank them again for their time and consideration. I have no idea if Agents want this or not. Despite crushing my hopes and dreams, they are human too, I figure a nice thank you is appropriate.

Side note: some writers get aggressive at this point. They can become belligerent, rude and insulting to agents that say no. Don’t do this. It doesn’t make you right, better or even a good human. That and agents tend to talk and know each other. Just be nice. Patience is required for Traditional Publishing.

Now I have rejection after rejection coming in. Most are form, and some have a little personal note. 

All rejections are hard to take, however, all rejections are a step forward. The advice or message in the rejection can sometimes be helpful. Take this for example:

“After reading your first page, I’m sorry this manuscript is not a good fit for me.” and “I read the first chapter and will pass on this project.”  

These both pointed to a potential problem. I paused queries and took a hard look. Did some digging and research and eventually found some other agents talking about story openings that will get an instant “No” or “Pass.” Huh. No scenes where the Main Character is dreaming, waking up, walking around doing mundane chores… the list went on. I’ll get into that another time. 

Well crap. My story hinged on the premise that Moira wakes up with a tattoo she doesn’t recall getting. Double crap. The chapter was in need of renewal, a renovation of sorts. So I rewrote the first chapter to have her already awake. Is that enough? Time will tell. If I need to rewrite a different angle, I will. Refusing to bend, adjust or change my work will not help me become published. Some would say it’s a “Pushover” or “foolish” thing to change to fit a standard. It’s not. The entire point is to get by a book published and if agents and publishers turn down something for a specific reason and I’ve used that “Something” you better believe I’m going to change it. It would be like walking into the office wearing a bikini. Sure it looks good, and it’s technically clothing, but if they say “You need to change the clothes to work here” You’re likely going to change into more appropriate clothing. Changing the opening isn’t compromising the entire story or me. 

Anyone pursuing traditional publishing will receive rejections. A lot of them. Sure there are the magic few that got signed right away. There are also lottery winners who’ve wone millions. Not many, but it can happen. I’m not holding my breath on luck. I will keep pushing, keep querying and keep trying until I find an agent who wants to work with my manuscript and me. 

My advice about Rejections. 

Rejections are Okay. Get them, get over them, and keep on going. Don’t let rejections deter you or get in the way. Learn from them if you can and know that eventually when you get a YES, all the rejections, hard work, and time will make that yes, sweeter.

-Sheryl

Don’t forget to check out, share and follow the new daily prompt I host. A new word every day!

https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/08/01/your-daily-word-prompt-Renewal-august-1st-2018/

 

Line By Line By Line

I have decided to give BiaAtlas a line by line edit, or also called a re-write edit for various reasons. 

1. It got 100% rejections from Literary Agents.

2. It is still way over the allowable word count minimum. 

3. I found a very obvious mistake within the first 50 pages.

4. It’s been long enough I want to get back to it with the new tools and skills I’ve learned since I last looked at it. 

5.  I wanted to double check consistency.

For me looking at the entire manuscript is… overwhelming. I end up glazing over errors or catch myself reading instead of editing. That’s a waste of time and counterproductive. 

So I sat back and thought, Okay, I can’t focus on line by line. I can’t bring myself to retype it, I know I’ll litter it with new typos. Then I had an idea.

First I went through using the search and replace feature in the word program as I outlined in my post Well colour me silly, I then highlighted ALL the filter words that I could find that infect my writing with unnecessary words. All LY at the ends of words to highlight dialogue tag adverbs. I then did the same with ING. Once I had a document with all the things I need to look closer at, I opened a blank word document(Make sure to set the document double spaced, times new roman and 12pt. for industry standard. Also use the tab to set paragraph indents to not hit tab for each paragraph.) 

I titled the filter word colored document BA rewrite template and the new one BA line by line 2018. 

Because I know I need a smaller chunk to focus on I started by copying one paragraph or two small ones or a block of dialogue (100 words approx) I changed the text color on the BA rewrite to purple and pasted the chunk to the new document. 

I took time to carefully read the allotted section of text and to my surprise, I was cleaning up sentences and sweeping out the filter words and adverb dialogue tags. Every section was becoming slimmer on word count as I edit. 

Once I had the new section edited I highlighted and changed it to light grey. 

The reason I changed the copied text to purple then, my newly edited text grey is to make it glaringly obvious what I’ve done. It also helps to keep track where I left off if I have to walk away for hours or even days.  

If I need to check what’s coming in the next paragraph I do a quick check on the original. 

Now because I’m a bit data detailed I also keep track of things as explained in my post Keeping Track. I created a new spreadsheet to keep track of chapter word count, from the original and the new version. Since I’m shifting chapters a bit by combining some, I’m also tracking the chapter mini-synopsis in this chart. 

This is slow work, but I’m surprised at how many things I’m seeing that need fixing. Oh, and in the first 50 pages, I found an inconsistency in chapter numbers. Oops, I cannot explain how that happened.

My advice about Rewriting or line by line editing.

Find a method that works for you, but only do this after letting the book sit for a minimum 1 month, 3 is better. Write stuff in-between. This way it gives your brain a chance to reset and see errors otherwise missed due to familiarity.

-Sheryl

Copyright © 2018 All rights reserved
Infect

Tidy Up Time

While I edit and revise my new book, I’ve been taking small breaks to write my next one(I’m very excited about this) and to tidy up my Blogsite. I’ve changed the look and layout and I’m happy with the outcome. It’s not perfect, but it’s much better than the elementary one I had before. 

Lately, I found that I was receiving a lot of vague spam comments and emails. I just spent the last two hours cleaning up and managing my subscriptions to blogs. I had to unfollow and follow a few as there were double follow links for some odd reason. 

I’ve been trying to catch up with some of the serial stories, articles and poems being written by some fabulous bloggers, and I know I’m missing a few. (Which is why I tidied up my subscriptions) All of this takes time, and my brain is bogged down so it’s taking longer than I would like.

I’m not sure how I’m going to proceed with my blog posts, at the moment the ‘what I’ve learned’ posts will be once a week. I’ll be checking in with a more personal post(such as this one) to say hi and update on progress, randomly.

I do have exciting news, I’m looking into a professional Editor/copyeditor to review my first 50 pages, my query letter and synopsis for Prophecy Ink. After a 100% rejection for BiaAtlas, I figured I would take a step back and revisit some ideas about editing. This is and will be an investment for Prophecy Ink which is a smaller more action-packed book than BiaAtlas which is more in-depth and character driven. 

I’m curious to see what they will say and do to my work. All of which I will share for those interested. I’m letting BiaAtlas sit(Much to my fan’s chagrins) for a little while before I pick it up and revise it again. I feel that the fault is in the query and synopsis. Hopefully, when I get Prophecy Ink done, I’ll have a more clear Idea where to take BiaAtlas. 

If you’re wondering why not get a professional edit on BiaAtlas, the person investing the cost to edit, likes Prophecy Ink more. I’m not complaining, both books are good. That’s not to say I won’t be thinking about it in the future for BiaAtlas. 

This all stems down to live and learn, the query is the most important part of the road to publishing. They are the toll-gate, the barrier through which you can only pass if you get it right. Perfectly right. In every way. As frustrating as that may be, I get it, with hundreds and thousands of people querying their books it’s tough competition. The agents can say nay a lot easier if there are blaring or simple errors. If it’s not catchy or perfect, they can move on to someone else’s query. Just like job interviews, if you don’t nail it, there are hundreds of others lining up for a shot. The market of queries is not in the writer’s favour. Sounds super negative, it’s not. They demand perfection(despite what some might say), and they get it. The trick is to be that writer giving perfection. 

It’s hard to please and easy to get a no. There is something called a slush pile, the imaginary place where all rejections go. Since submissions are digital, that delete button is super duper easy to press. 

So here I go again, preparing for the query battleground. I have some experience, more knowledge(Thanks to some lovely books and articles) and I’m going to tackle it again. This time I’ll go slower, and I’ll share my advice, mistakes and efforts along the way.

-Sheryl

PS, my thanks to a good blogging friend for helping me learn how to create nicer looking links. My next project will be to make my blogs easier to navigate.

 

Copyright © 2018 All rights reserved

Vague

Title

Title. It’s a little word only five letters long. It is a descriptive heading or caption used to give a book, chapter, song, poem, picture or anything that needs an appellation.

For such a small word it holds a significant importance. I put a lot of thought into the title of my first book, and I mean a lot.

Here are some things a title of a book should convey or contain

1. Be part of the story at some point. Don’t call it “My blue button.” and never have anything to do with a blue button tangible or imagined. Unless blue button is a euphemism that is a major part of the story, it might not be a good title.
2. Hold some significance to the story/characters
3. Be short and meaningful – It’s a title, not a log line
4. Catchy / Interesting – I’m often drawn to alliteration titles or punchy hard words.
5. Clever – boring titles suggest a boring book
6. Not borrowed or stolen from another book – Just don’t. Google and search to make sure it’s not accidentally copying someone else.
7. The feel or even genre of the book –  “Loved to death.” Might not be a good romance title but might be a good suspense…

So back to my title. The title of my book has significant meaning and plays a big part in the story as it progresses. However, now I’m rewriting the book to a point where I can re-submit to Literary Agents.  I’m changing the tone of many chapters, reducing the word count by more than 24000 words(Yeah seriously ugh, at least I’m almost half way there). The catch is that I will need to change the title or it will be passed over completely. This was not advice given lightly and was given by a professional in the industry.

So I will come up with a new title for the next round of queries for the Literary agents. I will likely either work BiaAtlas back in as a subtitle or ask for it to be the full title once my book lands a publishing deal.  I’m doing this so I can give my book a second chance. Typically you cannot resubmit the same story to the same literary agents for the second time. Unless the story/prose has been changed significantly.

It is hard to say what makes a title but I know a title can make or break the chances a story has being picked up by literary agents let alone publishers. In the self-publishing industry, it is even more important as it is what will make a potential reader stop or keep scrolling past the list of titles.

So how does one find out what a good title is? Take a look at books that are in the same genre. Even ones that aren’t. What are the similarities? Whats popular? Take a look at unsuccessful books on Amazon, how do their titles differ from top sellers? A great place to get a feel for what might or might not work is a bookstore or online stores. I personally like to go and physically look at the covers.

It’s daunting to think a one to five words can make or break my chances or success. No pressure right? I’m not going to stress about it as I said before, I can change it back or work it in another way. I was told at the beginning of my journey to be flexible and not be stone hard set in my ways or having my way. It was fantastic advice that I took and take to heart.

My advice about Titles of a book.
Be willing to change it if a publisher want’s to change it. Take a look at what’s working for others but don’t copy or steal. Be creative and meaningful.

-Sheryl

Other posts that are related

The many faces of Rejection

The “word count” down.

My Posts From The Start

Copyright © 2017 All rights reserved

 

 

Too Much To Do…

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the story writing process. There is so much more to it than just writing the story. There’s plot structure, the story arch, characters, character development, sub plots, side stories, foreshadows, and so much more.

There’s plot structure, the story arch, characters, character development, sub plots, side stories, foreshadows, settings, story flow and so much more.

Then there is the editing and revision portion. This part seems to be ongoing for me. With this, there are options too. Self-editing, friends editing, professional editing and computer program assisted editing.

Following the editing, there is the ‘getting your book’ published phase. Once again there are options. First, is finding a literary agent by querying them with a query letter and synopsis. Second is vanity press/indie publishing and third is self-publishing.

It all seems rather daunting when summarized and that’s because it is. It is a big task and hard to do. Of course, there will be those that seem to ‘luck’ out and get published with minimal effort and those that struggle and give up after years of rejection.

When I look at this process I always have the grand scope of it in my mind, however, I only focus on the task or ‘stage’ at hand. Right now I’m re-writing and revising my book. It’s a big task but a necessary one. I know the next step will be putting it out there again to literary agents.

This will require me to rewrite my query and synopsis completely. A task I know is coming up and is in my mind but not my focus at the moment.

Once I have the rewrite done I will move on to the next phase and that’s using a computer program to assist with grammar and structure revision.

After that, I have plans to look into a professional editor to assist with the polishing of the book, the query, and synopsis. That’s not soon so I think about it but not too much. One thing at a time for me.

It can quickly become overwhelming if I think too far ahead to all that needs to be done. I get that ‘too much to do’ panic and it can bog me down or derail me fast. So I slow down, sit back and take stock of it all then get back to focusing on what needs to be done first.

My advice about thinking too much.
There is enough stress in life you don’t need to add the anxiety of over thinking the book writing/publishing process and adding to it. Be aware of it, and plan for it but put most of the focus on the task at hand.

-Sheryl

I couldn’t find a way to work Edible into this blog so I’ll link one that already had it… Redundantly Redundant Redundancies 

Related posts

Read, revise and repeat. The shampoo process of editing.

Glance back to look forward

My Posts From The Start

Copyright © 2017 All rights reserved

 

Spring Editing Is In The Air

Spring is in the air and the birds have started chirping and singing. It’s a busy time of year. I eagerly await my tulips and daffodils. I discovered some plants that should have died over the winter, are still alive. I’m shocked and excited. Like hope for obtaining a literary agent, they stuck out the cold and brutal winter of rejections and survived.

My most recent query quest is almost at an end. There are only a handful left of queries to expire. I’ve begun work on the new revision of chapter one and I’m hoping to have it done soon. I’ll begin again with the queries as I continue with my new book.

The new book is coming along very well. I’m drawn in and working hard on the arcs and mini arcs. I know this one will need a lot of revision and revising once I’ve got the bones put together. But that is a long way away. For now it’s all about getting the story done and developing the characters and their interactions.

As I read blogs and other stories I see styles that I like and incorporate them into my writing. Learning as we go is key. It’s important to not only improve our own technique but to fine tune our own unique styles. I know my voicing is distinctly mine, because I wrote it and did not attempt to copy or mimic any other writer specifically. I wrote how I would want to read the story. This I think is key. To be true to myself.

While I am divided with projects at the moment, I’m loving the challenge and excitement a new story brings. I must be prudent with both stories and how I proceed. They are both very different I don’t want to mix character styles when editing and writing. With the thrill of a new season starting, I feel the energy of a new chapter of my adventure beginning.

So it’s time to get to work and do some spring editing on BiaAtlas’s first chapter and get it back out there with a fresh new feel.

My advice about writing.
Keep writing what you love and know. Write what you want to read, because if you do, someone else is bound to love it too.

PS the tulips in my image today are what I’m waiting for in my garden. That picture was taken two springs ago.

-Sheryl

Other posts that are fun

It’s funny you said that…

Mood swings

Copyright © 2017 All rights reserved

 Prudent

Don’t talk like me!

So I’m a newbie writer. By that I mean I haven’t been writing seriously for long. I’m bound to make mistakes, everyone is. One that I have to keep my eye on is writing individual dialogue. It is super-duper easy to write individual characters talking all the same… as I talk. For narrative it’s totally fine but characters, need their own voice. Even with the best of intentions I find it easy to forget the little things that keep that character unique.

So what do I do about it? I refer to my character bio’s often, where I keep specific details on each individual. I establish a clear voice in my head of how each person sounds. How they contract certain words, what jargon they use. Do they say yes or yeah. No or na. It doesn’t have to be a lot of differences for every character, but one or two distinct variations.

Here are some ways to make a character speak distinctly from others. (*Extreme suggestions should really be limited to one character)

• Never contracts words*
• Uses old-fashioned words such as indubitably, propitious and quiescent *
• Says um or ah from time to time
• Uses pauses for dramatic effect
• Says Yes only or often uses Yeah
• Uses similes all the time
• Constantly uses metaphors
• Never stops with puns(Must be well done and fit the scenario)
• Jargon junkie
• Says the word Like, like all the time.
• Uses nicknames
• Uses local dialect
• Never swears (Could be cute about substituting “Holy Christmas that’s loud!”
• Swears often or has a favorite swear word they use like a noun.
• Calls everyone dear or hun
• Geographical slang such as Y’all or Eh.

This list can go on and on. The point is to give each character a vocal quirk to make them unique from my own way of speaking. Now if you use a phrase or a character has a very unique verbal quirk, it’s fun to have someone else pick it up. As long as they or someone else point it out for fun. It needs to be addressed in a humorous way for it to make sense to the reader.

“Listen up everyone.” Terry waited for everyone’s attention. Scott clenched his jaw and forced himself not to groan. Amber bit her lip and looked at her newly fascinating pen. This was going to be a boring meeting.
Terry straightened his tie before continuing. “As you two are abundantly aware we are competing with Laverne and Associates to win the contract for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”
Dale rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “You can just say RCMP.”
In Dale’s opinion Terry wasn’t the right designer for this high-profile project. Sasha should  be heading up this one or Scott. Dale let Valery know he wasn’t thrilled to be working with Terry.
“No I cannot.”
“Tight-ass Terry will sink this project faster than the titanic.” Dale muttered to Amber and she snickered behind her hand.
“Do you have something to say Dale?”
“Nope.” Dale cracked his neck from side to side. “Go on, dazzle us with your recycled ideas.”
Terry narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw; this was the worst possible team.

Dale is a ‘Nope’ kind of guy because he’s brash, rude and often insubordinate. He uses it often but not to people he likes. Terry, well he’s the pompous blowhard unaware he has little talent of his own. He’s disrespected, so uses big words and speaks in what he perceives to be smart.

My advice about character dialogue quirks.
It is extremely important for your character to stand out from the others and the narrative. Even if it’s just a little. Put thought into it and if the character is from a region you’re not familiar with do some research to find out if there is a local dialect or saying used. 

-Sheryl

Other posts:
Oops! What did I just say?

It’s really very unnecessary

Copyright © 2016 All rights reserved
Specific

Glance back to look forward

At the risk of sounding cheesy, I have to say I’m hopeful. For many things and many reasons. I could say it’s because the new year is coming, but new or not, I’d still be hopeful.

So much has happened this past year, good and bad. I wont bog you down with the personal pros and cons of my life, or all the things that did or didn’t happen globally, but I will share the part that is my writing journey.

I will glance back to look forward to 2017.  2016 was a busy writing year. I wrote two novels (After BiaAtlas). I have in planing, two entirely different story ideas for new books. I started a blog to share what I’ve learned. Through my blog I’ve discovered, learned and met some fabulous writers. I completed editing and revising BiaAtlas managing to get the word count well below the max allowable limit. Now just as the year is coming to a close, I’m taking the earnest plunge to find representation for BiaAtlas in the from of a Literary Agent.

So far I’ve queried 47 agents at 47 different agencies with hundreds to go. Unlike the last attempt, this time, I’m hopeful. Sure I expect a bunch of rejections, however now I’m ready for a “yes please send me more material to read.”

While BiaAltas Querying is in the works I will begin plotting out and planning my next book. A totally different genre, all new characters and crazy antagonists to kick them in the ass. During this I will start editing and revising BiaAtlas book 2 that is eagerly waiting it’s turn for polishing.

My advice about being Hopeful
No matter what aspect of your life you’re looking at, if you don’t feel hopeful take a step back. Take a good look as to why and then kick that party-pooper doubt’s sorry ass out the door and welcome hope in to the New Year party!  You control the guest list.

Happy New Year everyone!

-Sheryl

My favorite blog posts I wrote from 2016 and why

That is disgusting because it’s super gross and funny

KISS your writing Keep it simple stupid! This advice is my #1 fave.

The FAB pencil – Describing objects can be so much more than the obvious and overdone

I’m ‘that’ kind of writer – I had fun writing this one.

Well colour me silly – A discovery that saved me hours and hours and hours of work.

Well I can’t list all of my favourites I have too many. I enjoyed writing them all and each one is unique. So the last one is my first real blog post.

The “word count” down.

Copyright © 2016 All rights reserved

Hopeful

Woooo! Woooohoo!

BiaAtlas Update.

It’s been two years and tonnes of work. After toiling and revising for a final time with all the ‘trouble’ words highlighted in different colours, I’m done.

I Started the final revision 5000 words over the maximum allowable limit. I was able to get the final word count down to 118,876, which is 1125 words below the max of 120,000.  Over 1000 words below what I though I would be able to manage. I can’t believe I was able to trim over 6000 words without compromising the story.

I feel a sense of accomplishment and renewal as I start again with the querying portion of my journey. Now I can start querying Literary Agents again with gusto and start the countdown all over again. I revised my Synopsis, Updated my Query letter and first 50 pages and I’m ready to get to it.

As I query I keep a spreadsheet. For each query I track the Agency, the agent queried, the date queried, their website, their email and if they have an expected time for response on receiving the query and when the query expires. The reason for this is so I don’t accidentally query the same agency twice, they have strict rules about it.

Each agency has their own rules and requests, within the agencies each agent can have their own rules and requests on top of the agencies. Sounds like a lot, but hey they need to weed out the authors who are not serious and potentially wasting their time.

So here I go again. Patience and persistence will pay off I know it.

My advice about writing goals.
If you have a goal anything is possible. Even if you think you’ve hit the wall, look up and find a way over it. 

-Sheryl

Three fun posts I wrote:

What a view I have!

What do you see?

That’s what she saw

Copyright © 2016 All rights reserved

 Renewal

Rejecting the rejected

BiaAtlas book update.

Well it has been 23 days since I started submitting my book to Literary Agents for representation. I got my first rejection letter from this round.  I am expecting them, after all not all agents are a good fit or are interested specifically in my genre (Even though they say they are).

A rejection letter isn’t the end of the world, I’ve talked about them before in the rejection letter.  I have to say I appreciate that they even sent one. Some agencies say ‘if you don’t hear from us within 8 weeks consider your query rejected’ or something along those lines.

Being rejected by someone or for something is a common part of our lives. Some people handle it like champs and move on while others on the other end of the spectrum dive into depression and struggle to overcome the hurdle. It also depends on how important the outcome would be and what the expectations were. How did I set myself up? To be hugely disappointed or go in knowing rejection is possible.

When and if I include rejection in my stories it’s not something I give too much though to. Why? Because I just didn’t think of it as important. Now I do. That is because it can, like so many other things I prattle on about, be pivotal to a story or character development.

So I’m going to write a fun part-chapter about rejection today.

Sasha meets Cal:

Sasha watched the handsome man approach, his dark brown eyes sparkled with interest. Anne and Valery ditched the moment they figured out he was interested in Sasha. Always interfering they giggled and snickered their way to a table to watch. He was tall, it didn’t take much to overshadow Sasha, but his height was coupled by a thick chest and broad shoulders. She did not want to be here, she did not want to be hit on, not tonight. She cast her tittering friends a death-glare as the man stopped and smiled down at her.

“I’m Cal.” He held his hand out.

Odd, this tall and impressive man didn’t employ the ancient tradition of weird pick up lines or cheesy invitations to buy her a drink.  He had a day’s growth of dark beard hair on his strong square jaw. Her inclination to touch his cheek brought a frown to her lips as she shook his hand instead. He was dangerous and far too attractive. Time to shut this down.

“Sasha.” She pulled her hand from his, picked up the lime daiquiri the bartender just set down.

“Nice to meet you Sasha.” Cal’s charming slanted smile made her palms sweat. “Christian Louboutin’s?” He gestured at her feet.

“Ah, yes?”

“You’ve been to New York?”

“No. I know how to shop on line like most humans.” She had lucked out and got them 75% off and a few others. Her size wasn’t standard so they sometimes had old stock. That they were last season or whatever they were labelled as didn’t matter one bit.  It is important for her to dress to impress for work and party. At home, she was jeans and a t-shirt kinda woman. Her suits and expensive shoes helped her land the bigger clients so she indulged on the designers discounts.

“You don’t look happy to be here Sasha.”

Again, no awkward pick up line.

“I’m not.” She dug deep to find her inner bitch. The sooner she got away from him the better. She would talk to one more guy as per the agreement with Valery and Anne, order them two more shooters each and leave as soon as they were drunk enough. “And this is not making it any better.”

“The gross frozen drink or my talking to you?” Cal tilted his head slightly.

“Both.” She glanced over at her friends who both gave her double thumb up as they sipped their daiquiris. She looked back at Cal who had followed her line of sight.

“Let me guess you’d rather be at home curled up on the couch watching a rom-com dousing your woes with a bottle of…” He smiled slightly and tapped his chin. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Norman Hardie Pinot Noir.”

Her mouth fell open, it was her favorite, and if she wasn’t drinking tequila shooters she would have had a glass or two.

“I’m not clairvoyant. You’ve glanced at the bottle behind the bar three times.”

“Oh.”

His unexpected charm was disarming.

“You’re planning on getting them drunk enough to ditch them aren’t you.” He smiled and tipped his glass toward her two friends.

“How could you know that?”

“Because Sasha you’ve been one to their three on drinks, you keep looking behind me at the exit and correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re about to tell me to get lost.”

Sasha took a deep breath and huffed. “I have to talk to you for at least five more minutes.”

He leaned closer. “Hmm. To get them off your back?” The scent of cologne wafted to her nose. The luscious blend of floral, spice and masculinity was subtle and not overpowering. If Sasha wasn’t so royally unhappy right now she might have considered being nicer to the very alluring man. Of all the nights he picked this one to stroll over all sexy, nice and talk to her. Not ‘how ‘bout that rain yesterday?’ or ‘what brings you to Starches?’ Real conversation was hard to come by.

“Well then I have four and a half more minutes. What do you do for a living?”

“Graphic design.” She dropped her eyes from his face and saw Anne leave to dance with a guy she’s flirted with since they arrived. Valery shrugged and mouthed ‘your turn’.

Rolling her eyes Sasha looked back at Cal. He would be an easy target for her built up anger, resentment and underlying sadness.

“Let me save you the trouble of the crap questions Cal. I’m a Virgo, I don’t have pets, I love my job, I don’t like dancing, terrible pick-up lines or small talk. I don’t like pushy men, or the bars they prowl in. I don’t care what you do, or who you are, what you do or do not like whatsoever. Since you voluntarily strolled over, I’m using you to fulfill a promise that I would “try”. I don’t date, ever, and before you ask, I’m not interested in women either.” She looked at her watch turned to the bartender and ordered six tequila shooters.

“Well at least you love your job.” He chuckled. “How ‘bout Piña coladas? Or getting caught in the rain?”

Her lips curled up slightly, he was trying to cheer her up and he was listening. Then the reality of the song hit her as she recalled the lyrics.

“I am into yoga and I have more than half a brain. I don’t appreciate cheaters or those that plan to cheat. I’ll say it again.” She looked at her watch before glancing at Valery as she finished her drink. “I don’t date, ever. Thanks for talking to me, but you can go now. Find some other woman to charm to bed I’m not interested.”

“You sure I can’t persuade you to talk more or maybe dance?”

“No you can’t.” She shook her head, picked up the six shots on the small tray with lemon wedges and salt and walked away to Valery.

Sasha has her reasons for rejecting Cal, this is her personal torment to overcome. I look at how rejection affected myself or others I know. It can be a wealth spring of opportunity to create conflict within a characters personal life. It can inspire struggle to overcome or depression and even anger. It can bring out the inner strength and determination they didn’t know they had.

My advice about rejection.
We can’t say yes to everything, even a simple no is a rejection. Use rejection to push a character forward or down. Or to showcase an inner struggle such as Sasha’s.

-Sheryl

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