Count Down Day....Ah, Screw It. No One is Counting Down with Me Anyway. (Final Post)

You will understand the miracle of the blurb on the cover of my novel, if you are an LROD fan. You see, little rodents, good things can happen to good writers too.  In case you cannot see it, the quotation says:

"This debut sparkles; Miracle Girls is that rarest thing; a literary miracle. MB Caschetta will break your heart and mend it all at once." --Darin Strauss, author of Chang and Eng and Half a Life.

So, this is me and this is my novel: www.mbcaschetta.com, and @caschetta on The Twits if you wish to follow my progress. Most of you know I have been anonymous here as Writer, Rejected since 2007, through thick and thin, through blogging as a form of expression to the death of blogging and the rise of Twitter. From the early threats I received via email (remember email) to the yawns and crickets heard round the InterWebs in these latter years.

Here I was, and here I shall be. So, done and done, my friends. You have been good companions. 

Feel free to comment on this final blog post however you wish. Also, go ahead and purchase my book if you want to be very kind to me; it is readily available everywhere, though the official release date is November 11th, which we have established as a basically meaningless calendar number.  Please note that I did thank Rosemary Ahern for all generosity real and imagined.

Here are some reviews:  Kirkus and Bookshots at LitReactor.  (I will add the others as they come rolling on in--good, bad, and ugly.)

Peace out, for now. I am off to find Jacob Appel and buy that guy a beer.

Count Down Day 27--My Obsession with Editor Rosemary Ahern

Q: Do you have any idea what happened to Rosemary Ahern? Has she ever contacted you about your good-natured "obsession" with her? 
A: My agent is friends with Rosemary Ahern, and when my novel was flailing last year, he and I conferred about my getting help from someone who has a publishing-view and could edit the book from that perspective. We came up with Ms. Ahern. It was a little awkward given my fantasy life about having her be my editor, but she claimed she really didn't get the whole blog thing I was doing about her.  I said it was all in good fun, and on the phone, I could hear her shrug. Not an issue.  Anyway, I paid her a bit of coinage to read my novel as it was then and to talk to me on the phone for an hour with high level notes about how to make the thing work.  She was brilliant and encouraging, and I have been in touch with her ever since via email. So, in a way, my little fantasy series (in which she coins a nickname for me as Doodles) turned out to be true, though not romantic.

Happy Easter, Rosemary Ahern

May you experience joy.

Happy Valentine's Day, Rosemary Ahern!

What's funny about this post, and about life in general, is that when I started my fantasy riff about the fine New York editor, Rosemary Ahern, it was sparked by this first rejection.  From there I wended my way with many a fictional tale about how she was going to save my literary life by becoming my editrix extraordinaire. As I recall some of you mice thought the whole thing was a bit creepy and overblown; perhaps you were even right. But, here's a truly amazing thing: my agent suggested I get in touch with her fer-realz to help me with my novel, which wouldn't settle down. So I did just that. I paid her to read my novel and tell me how to make it work as an entity unto itself. It was an expensive phone call, but worth every single penny, because she was hugely insightful and made it really clear what the problem was and how to fix it.  In short, it was a matter of cutting back the secondary and tertiary story lines, which were distracting.  The reader didn't know where to focus, and the primary story and characters were getting lost. So, I cut out some serious back story, a good 40 pages if not more.  And then suddenly the story began to float, the novel was working, and I started getting some traction. Shortly thereafter it was chosen for publication by a literary press.  Ironically, if I wanted to I could now pick up the phone or email Rosemary Ahern directly and tell her personally that she is my Literary Valentine. But in the end, though a lot has changed, much has stayed, since I'd rather post my VD message on LROD. Happy Valentine's Day, Rosemary! You are spectacular.
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Holiday Monday

Happy Labor Day, Rosemary Ahern.  Happy Labor Day, everyone else.

Happy Valentine's Day, Rosemary Ahern

Today, on this day of massacres and love, we must continue to be patient while entire teams of editors, publishers and publicists fall back into one another's arms to build trust and cooperation in the enterprise of book making. Which is to say, alas, those who may buy my book are on a retreat this week, so all business, like offers and bids, are on hold. My horoscope said there would be delays, and there are! Anyhoo, maybe I will be spending next Valentine's Day with Rosemary Ahern reading my manuscript by candlelight and laughing over my adorable dangling modifiers.

Merry Christmas, Rosemary Ahern

...And all you mice, too.  Hope you all are having a great holiday week.

Independence Day 2011

Happy 4th of July, Rosemary Ahern (wherever you are).

First Weekend of Summer

Happy Memorial Day, Rosemary Ahern. Excuse the oxymoron.

What's Your Literary New Year's Resolution?

Mine is to get the novel published, same as it is always is, but also to make some tracks into the memoir. Oh, and not to be so neurotic about the whole thing. I'm planning on a very Zen year. You?

p.s. In the meantime, Happy 2011, Rosemary Ahern, wherever you are.

How To Curb Suffering

"Writing as a form of suffering is no longer possible when you publish yourself," Garrison Keillor told an audience at the Authors' Guild Gala. "When you become your own publicist, you have to interview yourself."  True, I guess.  Not sure I understand what it means.  Go here for more. p.s. Happy Independence, Rosemary Ahern.

We Are Always A Nation At War It Seems

Happy Memorial Day, Rosemary Ahern, Jacob Appel, Bill Shapiro, and all you crazy writing mice out there! How about we all say a little prayer for an end to war? In the meantime, stay tuned for a special feature on Tuesday with a guest writer. Have a great long weekend, and happy summer to you and yours. Peace out for now.

No Lice or Flies, etc.

Good Pesach, Rosemary Ahern.  May all the plagues pass you over.  (Talk about a moving story with drama and compelling characters. Plus who can ever resist a triumphant freeing of an entire people?)

Have A Sci-Fi New Year

Happy New Year, everybody.*
_______
*Rosemary Ahern included

Peace on Earth

Merry Christmas, Rosemary Ahern.

Happy Thanksgiving

Have some tofurkey for me, Rosemary Ahern.

Long Weekend Commemorating War Starts Now

Happy Memorial Day, Rosemary Ahern. 

Happy Memorial Day, Jacob Appel.

May peace prevail.

What Ever Happened To...

I wonder if Rosemary Ahern knows about the new Brad Gooch biography of Flannery O'Connor? It looks good.  I don't think she has a full-time gig in publishing any more. If I had her address I'd send it to her in the mail. 

And To All A Good Night

Merry Christmas, Rosemary Ahern.  Merry Christmas Jacob Appel.  Merry Christmas, all you festive, cranky mice.  I hope your wishes come true.

Editorial Fireworks

Happy Independence Day, Rosemary Ahern. Wherever you are.