I remember my first editor appointment. It was with an editor totally unsuited to the story I was pitching. Though she was very gracious and did request a partial on an uncompleted manuscript after hearing my pitch on the completed manuscript and the two of us discussing how it certainly was not right for her. I did send her the first three chapters of the incomplete work, and eventually received a lovely rejection letter saying she just wasn't "in love" with the characters.
How did the mistaken editor appointment happen, you ask? Well, it's very simple, really. I had no idea what I was doing! It was my first conference, my first appointment with ANY editor, and I had no clue who to ask for. I didn't make that same mistake the following year.
No, that year I wound up with an agent appointment - a group appointment. Again, the agent was very gracious, requested the first three chapters from all six of us in the group, and then we discussed our stories, her philosophy on selling our stories, general conference experiences, etc., While a pleasant experience, after she read the first three chapters of our completed manuscript, it turned out that this particular agent wasn't "in love" with our story, so she gave us a pass.
The following year, I again had an editor appointment. This one went VERY well. It was the right editor, the right story, the right time...or maybe not, because again we received a lovely rejection letter.
Are we disheartened? Maybe a little, but not enough to stop writing...not enough to stop seeking the editor and/or agent who will fall "in love" with our characters and our story at the same time and will want to "buy the book." But you see, that's another reason I'm not stressing too much over missed appointments this year.
I'm taking the "GWTW" approach (and if you're going to Atlanta and don't know what GWTW stands for, shame on you!
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