Desolation Ghosts is a 65,000-word adult literary fiction novel in the vein of The Human Stain. It is set in North Cascades National Park and is about a missing traumatized female veteran with alcohol and relationship addictions who changes her mind about killing herself, but then falls off a mountain and must survive in the wilderness while park rangers battle over how much effort should be spent to locate her. The story takes place during the Covid-19 pandemic and the beginning of law enforcement reforms following the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. This book will appeal to readers who are interested in national parks, outdoor recreation, the Pacific Northwest, and the controversial issue of how emergency services treat people with mental health challenges. It includes exciting stories, based on real-life events, about using rock climbing and short-haul helicopter techniques to rescue a pack string mule who fell off a trail and a mountain climber who fell off a crag, a shoot-out and its impact on park rangers, a couple drownings, an aquatic body recovery and other sad outdoor tragedies, and funny and scary encounters with bears and other wildlife. If you like Jack Kerouac, Nevada Barr, Bree Loewen, Jon Krakauer, Michael Connelly, James Dickey's Deliverance, Matthew Quick's The Silver Linings Playbook or Scott Heim's Mysterious Skin, you may enjoy Desolation Ghosts.

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

If it wasn't for Sterling Lord, literature wouldn't be the same

DG has been rejected 74 times (61 official and 13 non-response). Today's rejection is a template I've received a couple times before. Each time it's thrown me in a different way. Here it is:

Thank you for submitting your project, DESOLATION GHOSTS. I read your materials with interest, and did find a great deal to recommend the project, but ultimately, I just wasn't as enthusiastic about the concept as I had hoped to be.

Naturally, this is a highly-subjective opinion, and I'm sure other agents will feel quite differently.

The first time I got this response I was distressed thinking I was on the right track with the story (I think the first one said they were excited about the concept but not as enthusiastic about the book as they'd hoped to be) but had failed in the writing. The second time I read the rejection to my husband who agreed it's definitely more of an "ouch" than other rejections. This time I thought, "She found something interesting. Maybe she'll like the revision better!" (Yes, of course I'm working on a 5th revision.) Then I remembered that it doesn't matter. Someone's either going to love it or they're not. They really don't need to bother with all these words that are supposed to soften the blow, though it's nice of them to try. Just yes or no. And if it's a yes, it has to be love because they say having a champion who's passionate about the book is the only way to get through the painstaking process of getting a book to press and market.

The feedback that really counts is from a ranger who knows the park, knows the environment, has an amazing heart and instincts and doesn't quite buy one of the character's growth arc. She's probably right, and I know why, so I'm working on an alternate version to fix that.

Loose was rejected by The Threepenny Review where I submitted it Sunday while waiting for One Story to work out the bugs in their submission process. It's still out to four magazines, which you have to allow more time than agents.

Got another rejection as I was writing this blog article: 75!

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