March 25, 2007

News on the publisher front: My latest rejection letter is from Shambala Publications. It looks like a copy of a copy, not quite centered on the page, as though the original had been misaligned in the copier. There is no date and it starts off "Dear Author." I mailed the proposal on March 19 from Half Moon Bay, California, to Shambala's office in Boston. The postmark date on their envelope they sent to me is March 21. They must have sent out their response the same day the proposal arrived. Now that's efficiency! I imagine a bin for all unsolicited manuscripts. A fast computer scans them for return addresses, and then prints up an envelope, into which a copy of the rejection form letter is automatically inserted...

On the social network front: "Stories from the House" on the Holy Beggars web site now has 11 members, and people are gradually starting to post things about themselves. I get very excited each time someone joins, and each time someone posts something. This has great promise for fulfilling one part of my dream for the book -- the opportunity for everyone's story to be included.