Alas, Pretend 2 isn't to be - at least not with Samhain.  Less than a week after I submitted it, it's been rejected.  The premise isn't right, it will turn off romance readers, characters aren't sympathetic. Etc, etc.  The editor didn't even give me an option to alter and re-submit. 

I did cry over this, I had such high hopes for this book.  I'm actually pretty smitten with it, even though I can see the editor's points.  If I'd been given an option to re-submit, I would.  But that wasn't on the table. 

You would think that since my sales have been good, and since I do have a fairly loyal readership, that this might have come into play. However, I understand that they feel justified in their rejection.  I'm sure by now it's a forgotten incident with this editor, and it's time for me to move on, decide if this is a dead manuscript or if I should pursue submitting it to another publisher altogether.  It's a bit rough to think of it somewhere else, considering it's a sequel, but hey, when have things worked out the way I thought they should? (Makes life rather interesting for the most part...)

I also should admit that I actually had thoughts of quitting writing, and I still do.  The idea of starting all over, going into slush piles again horrifies me. I did that for years, don't know if I want to even endure that again. I'm published, that was my dream, at least the first important step of it. Perhaps I should be content with that, and try something else, something different.  Something where rejection isn't standard.

But maybe being published will hold some weight with someone, and that will help me rise above all the slush. Since I'd aimed this manuscript as a sequel, it will need some rewriting before it stands alone perfectly.  I also have another book in the works, a chick lit, that I'm just starting to flesh out.  This I think would be a good one to peddle around.  So you see, I'm torn.

Any opinions?