Sending a Prawn’s Heart to publishers

I have finally done it! I stopped faffing around (I’m being polite) with my “dear publisher” letter and with the synopsis, gave myself a mental shake and JUST DID IT. Turn on computer, print letter, synopsis and chapters, place into padded envelope, go to post office, and send. Simple. And then I went to work and forgot that I had just sent my novel off. It was as if it was nothing, as if I hadn’t spent two months psyching myself up to it and endlessly task-evading with domestic chores.

In fact, the hardest part took place not in front of my computer but at the post office counter. I had to provide an envelope with return postage (in case of rejection: publishers are so practical), but this was not as easy as it sounds.

“I can’t print a label for that,” the post shop lady yawned, “and we can’t guarantee that stamps will stick to this type of envelope.” When I asked if there did exist a way to provide return postage, she told me to push the stamps onto the envelope really hard and hope for the best. Which I did. Two days later I got an email to say that they had received my sample chapters. And they wrote the name of my novel! Wow, this is really happening.

I’m trying not to think about it so I don’t get disappointed when / if they reject me. (I know I should say ‘the novel’, but how can I NOT take it personally?!) But of course I also have my day-dreams of being a full-time writer and living in a romantic shabby-chic cottage in a gorgeous, coastal wilderness not too far from a great café.

I just remembered that the home page on the Wikipedia online encyclopaedia today said that the Iranian president made a statement that the Holocaust is a myth. I tell myself off almost daily for being over-sensitive, but when I read that I thought that maybe I’m too hard on myself. I feel numb when I hear things like that; in my brain there is only total incomprehension.

I like Jessica’s idea of having excerpts from the novel… I can show you all my favourite pieces, how indulgent! My favourite pieces are actually the most fantasy-based. There’s one bit where Erszi travels to Australia after the war on a luxury cruise ship — or what seems like luxury to her. That was all imagined, and so much fun to write. And of course there is Claudia. She’s only a minor character, but the one I most admire. Claudia is the person I would love to be — daring, sophisticated, posh, seductive, and doesn’t care what people think of her. Hmmm, perhaps Claudia deserves to reappear again in another novel, as the major character this time! I think she would approve.

posting comments

Several people have said that they were unable to post comments. I’ve fiddled around behind the scenes but can’t work out what I need to do. I am so sorry about this. I have a solution, though: if you would like to write a comment, send it to my email address: sarah@publishsarah.com, and I promise to post your comment onto the site!