Katie Bartlett, Author

Life

Since I’ve shamelessly shared with you all my sad and sorry rejections, I thought you might like to see a good one.  What I mean is, the editor liked the writing and she liked the story.  All good things!  The reasons she passed was mostly because she wasn’t a “horse person”.  And my latest middle grade novel is, for lack of a better category, a horse book.  Can’t win them all!  But I was happy for her encouragement.  This, of course, is the perfect example of why you need to research who you are submitting to and their personal preferences.

So here they are…snippets of my very first positive rejection:

I really enjoyed reading (xyz) and was genuinely curious to find out what might happen next.  You’ve done a great job of building the mystery and the sense that there is something not-quite-right…I think young readers would be sucked in by this dynamic opening.  (Xyz) had a strong and distinct voice, and you do a great job of portraying the unique island setting.  Well done! 

(insert some constructive criticism here that I won’t go into)

This was truly an enjoyable read and I wish you the best of luck with your continued work on it. 

All the best…

Hooray for me!  The first rejection that brought tears of joy instead of despair.  Now I just need to find a horse person…