Shirley Larson's Blog
January 26, 2016
Good news, bad news
There’s a well-known story about a Chinese farmer that is said to have been in existence for two thousand years and it goes like these:
A Chinese farmer bought a horse. The horse ran away. The neighbor says to the farmer, I’m so sorry about your house. The farmer says, good news, bad news, who knows.
The horse returns to the farmer, bringing another horse with him. This is good news, the neighbor says. The farmer shrugs and says, good news, bad news, who knows.
The farmer’s son gets on the horse to ride him, falls off and breaks his leg. Neighbor says, I’m sorry about your son.” Farmer says, good news, bad news, who
knows.
The emperor’s men come to the village and take all the able bodied young men, but leave
the farmer’s son because he has a broken leg. Good news, bad news, who knows.
When I first started out in romance writing, I shot a manuscript off to a publisher I was sure would accept it. I had read their guidelines carefully, and I was sure my book fit their line. After what seemed to me like a very long period of time, they sent me a rejection letter. It was a nice letter, but it was a rejection letter. By this time, I had written a second book. I was upset with the first publisher because they had taken so long and then rejected it, so I fired it off to another publisher. That publisher was bringing out a new line of books, and I did not know it at the time, but their books were selling like hotcakes. I went with the second publisher and wrote nine books for them and made considerably more money than I would have with the first publisher. Good news, bad news.
Fast forward several years. I’d dropped out of writing for a while. Then I saw that Harlequin was running a contest for a short novelette, (I think this was for their first entry into the e book world) I entered with a story about a woman who is kidnaped in medieval England and forced to marry a knight. Again, my piece was rejected. I really did like the writing I had done for the contest, it was fun and sexy, I thought.
I recently decided to make it into a time travel book and put it together with a modern beginning and ending. The book is selling very nicely, probably much better than it would have under the Harlequin umbrella where it would only have been available for a month.
So. Good news, bad news. Who knows?
To me, that’s the exciting and wonderful thing about writing. You just don’t know where it will take you or what friends you will make along the way. So you got a rejection? Good news, bad news? Who knows?
The print copy has the title, A Ring, A Bracelet and Venice. The e book has the title, The Medieval Knight is available in Kindle for $2.99
A Chinese farmer bought a horse. The horse ran away. The neighbor says to the farmer, I’m so sorry about your house. The farmer says, good news, bad news, who knows.
The horse returns to the farmer, bringing another horse with him. This is good news, the neighbor says. The farmer shrugs and says, good news, bad news, who knows.
The farmer’s son gets on the horse to ride him, falls off and breaks his leg. Neighbor says, I’m sorry about your son.” Farmer says, good news, bad news, who
knows.
The emperor’s men come to the village and take all the able bodied young men, but leave
the farmer’s son because he has a broken leg. Good news, bad news, who knows.
When I first started out in romance writing, I shot a manuscript off to a publisher I was sure would accept it. I had read their guidelines carefully, and I was sure my book fit their line. After what seemed to me like a very long period of time, they sent me a rejection letter. It was a nice letter, but it was a rejection letter. By this time, I had written a second book. I was upset with the first publisher because they had taken so long and then rejected it, so I fired it off to another publisher. That publisher was bringing out a new line of books, and I did not know it at the time, but their books were selling like hotcakes. I went with the second publisher and wrote nine books for them and made considerably more money than I would have with the first publisher. Good news, bad news.
Fast forward several years. I’d dropped out of writing for a while. Then I saw that Harlequin was running a contest for a short novelette, (I think this was for their first entry into the e book world) I entered with a story about a woman who is kidnaped in medieval England and forced to marry a knight. Again, my piece was rejected. I really did like the writing I had done for the contest, it was fun and sexy, I thought.
I recently decided to make it into a time travel book and put it together with a modern beginning and ending. The book is selling very nicely, probably much better than it would have under the Harlequin umbrella where it would only have been available for a month.
So. Good news, bad news. Who knows?
To me, that’s the exciting and wonderful thing about writing. You just don’t know where it will take you or what friends you will make along the way. So you got a rejection? Good news, bad news? Who knows?
The print copy has the title, A Ring, A Bracelet and Venice. The e book has the title, The Medieval Knight is available in Kindle for $2.99
