Countdown: 8: Final Submissions

After I killed off my character in April, 2009, I ran Perilous past my various critique groups. All in all, it got better feedback than it ever had. The beginning gripped my beta readers and made them want read more, as well as letting them know what kind of a ride they were in for. (They also caught all the times I referred to them as 'the four girls' instead of 'the three girls.')

This time, I was certain my novel was a winner. I resubmitted to the company I'd sent it to in October, as well as carefully selecting four other publishing companies to submit to.

Right away, I heard back from the company I'd previously submitted to. They wanted to know if this novel was the same one they had in their review committee. Oops! I told them it was, though I had made substantial changes. I also admitted to them that I thought it had been rejected, since it had been more than six months since I had submitted, with no response.

The editor responded saying that though it was taking longer than usual, they had not yet rejected my novel. It was in committee. She told me they would continue to review my previous submission, since they had already invested so much time in it. She also said if it were to be rejected, I could resubmit with my new version.

Boy, I felt like an idiot!

And that was that. The submissions were away. I sat back and waited, absolutely confident that this time, someone--maybe everyone!--would want my book.