What? Super Famous Authors Get Rejection Letters, Too?

At the annual Florida SCBWI Mid-Winter Conference held in Miami this past weekend, much was discussed concerning rejection letters, collected by most every author known to humanity.  This author certainly has had her share!  It seems fitting, then, to do a post on famous authors who have fallen prey to the same malady.  Have fun! 

GEORGE ORWELL

It seems Alfred Knopf didn’t always understand satire. Animal Farm, the famed dystopian allegory that later became an AP Reader standard and Retrospective Hugo Award winner, was turned down because it was “impossible to sell animal stories in the U.S.A.” A British publishing firm initially accepted and later rejected the work as well, arguing that “…the choice of pigs as the ruling caste will no doubt give offense to many people, and particularly to anyone who is a bit touchy, as undoubtedly the Russians are.”

 GERTRUDE STEIN

A shockingly nasty letter, I can only imagine how Ms. Stein reacted to this missive from Arthur C. Fifield with her manuscript for Three Lives: “Being only one, having only one pair of eyes, having only one time, having only one life, I cannot read your MS three or four times. Not even one time. Only one look, only one look is enough. Hardly one copy would sell here. Hardly one. Hardly one.” Twenty years later, Stein’sThe Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas became her one and only best-seller.

 STEPHEN KING

Most fans know that King’s big break came with Carrie, the story of a friendless, abused girl with secret telekinetic powers. Though one publishing house told him they were “not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias.  They do not sell,” Doubleday picked up the paperback rights to the novel and sold more than a million copies in its first year.

 WILLIAM GOLDING

Lord of the Flies was a favorite of so many high-school students, some publishers disagreed. One agent called the classic “an absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.” To date, the book has been required reading in high schools for nearly fifty years, 14.5 million copies have been sold, and Golding’s work has been adapted for film twice.

 MARY HIGGINS CLARK

Back in 1966, the young romance author was trying to sell a story she called “Journey Back to Love.” It didn’t go well, however; her submission to Redbook came back with a rejection from the editors, stating "We found the heroine as boring as her husband had." Ouch! The piece was eventually run as a two-part serial in an English magazine, and Mary Higgins Clark currently boasts forty-two bestselling novels.

Interview with Rita Borg, Author of "Meg the Egg"

 

I am so delighted to welcome Rita Antoinette Borg to the blog today. She has a new picture book, although she is the author of several more as well. Let's have our readers get acquainted with you, Rita!
  
NS  You are from Malta, and I’ve visited there, with fond memories of the warmth of the people and the beauty of the place.  Please tell us how Malta and the US helped define you as a person and, by extension, a writer.  I find your new picture book, Meg the Egg, so charming.  Please tell us how it came about and your expectations for it.

 

RB  As a three year old, I immigrated to New York City with my family in 1966.  It was the beginning of my adventure to know and care about one of the biggest and strongest countries in the world. Malta is the complete opposite of the United States. She is a very small country in the Mediterranean Sea. Though I love my adopted country, the U.S, I know that a part of me, my roots, are in Malta.

 

People often ask me which country you love the most. Honestly, I miss the States, the land of my childhood. And it is here, in my writing, that this question is answered. Somehow, I always write about Mothers or Motherhood.
Sometimes the Mother is attacked, as in Meg the Egg; other times my books show mothers as a dominant person in a child’s life. Mothers are a special theme in my heart and in my picture books.
 
Home is another special theme. Everybody needs a home and wants to go there after a long day. I go “home” every two years or so to the U.S though I am not a citizen. However, my immediate family lives here in Malta; so with them I am home here. I am not about to leave them behind me. I feel that every immigrant and U.S citizen should see the United States as a true home and feel proud of her. If not, they should leave the country and return to the place they really call home. Like every country, the United States needs to be loved and honored by her occupants, too.
 
NS   I find your new picture book, Meg the Egg, so charming.  Please tell us how it came about and your expectations for it.
 
 RB  My youngest daughter, Meghan, was afraid to go to bed at night by herself.  She’s fifteen going on sixteen now. But the theme of Meg the Egg has been incubating in my head for quite awhile.

First, I thought of a rhyming word to go with Meg. The eggshell and its purpose came to mind. Then I took Meghan’s problem and decided Meg would be afraid to hatch. My usual mother theme came up and I decided the only way Meg would want to be brave and become motivated to hatch would be if her own mother would land into trouble. Yes, the book can be scary with Howls (a fox) but isn’t life scary, too? Snow White and the original Three Little Pigs are scary, too Children should be prepared for any eventuality; picture books help children face fear. NS  Tell us how much time you devote to writing daily and how you organize your time.  (I find that everyone wants to know this about an author!)
 
I am the worst organized person in the world. But what I do everyday makes me happy.
I write.
I visit schools for storytelling.
I am the official storyteller for a local bookshop.
I market my newest book, Meg the Egg.
I have three kids and my husband is a medical doctor.
I am studying for a B.A. Creative Writing course that last about 7 years.
I have a house to maintain.
I read a lot.
 
How do I take care of all these things? I do my best.  I wake up at about 6 o’clock in the morning and handle my emails. I love reading and mailing out emails. I wish I had more fans.
 
I write about 750 words a day in a five day week. That comes out to be 3750 words per week. Saturdays and Sundays are dedicated to my family.  I also rewrite my manuscripts and course lessons as much as I can until 2 o’clock in the afternoon when my youngest arrives from school.
 
NS   In your website, you speak of the importance of two ideals:  creativity and imagination.  Please tell us a bit about how you try to weave both of these into your writing for kids. 
 
AB  We all need a dose of these two magical words to help us through life.  Einstein is quoted to have said that Imagination is more important than intelligence.  What a genius he was! These two abstract thoughts help us in good and sad situations. They are what really make us humans. They help us see and understand and hope beyond what is reality and what could be a really boring life!  They keep us linked throughout our lives to our inner child who does not want to grow up into an adult. They keep me writing books and poetry for myself and my audience.

NS  Tell us about your other picture books and what can we expect for the future.
 
AB  My picture books are mostly about animals like hedgehogs, frogs and birds.
 I have one published bilingual book in Maltese and English: On a Lonely Tree (2000)
Another published book in Maltese translated to The Lost Sock (2011)
I also have three self published bilingual Maltese-English picture books:

                     The Frogs’ Great Escape (2003)

                      Rebecca’s Choice (2005)

                      Don’t Cross the Road, Holly (2009)

And an anthology of twelve short stories for children between 6-9 years old called Seasons. (2007)
But only Meg the Egg can be purchased on Amazon.
NS  You can be found at:
 
AB  If you have any other questions about my book or about writing in general please don’t hesitate to contact me on:
rita@ritaborg.us

website : www.ritaborg.us

and my Facebook page :www.facebook.com/RITAANTOINETTEBORG

It's been a pleasure having you visit the blog today, Rita.  All best wishes with your continued success in writing for children! 

Guest Post on Literal Exposure--Blogging About Blogging!

We, today, visit the Literal Exposure Blog.  Our topic, Blogging about Blogging, discusses how we choose topics about which to blog and the interest levels of our followers.

It's a conundrum.  What is interesting to the readers?  And how do we know when enough is enough? 

Well, in the words of a popular children's book:  You cannot say too much about a topic.  You cannot say too little.  It has to be just the right amount!

Visit the blog today, and find out how we address the perennial blog dilemma.

And thank you all once more for keeping One Pelican at a Time:  A Story of the Gulf Oil Spill, on the Amazon Bestseller List in Children's Books.  It is going into its 11th week!

Not so Fast, Mr. Pelican