Glad you could join us for the next extreme episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…
From the shadows of Elliot’s mind, came a whistling chirp. “Is this what dying sounds like?” he wondered idly as darkness stole over his eyes and his body rose above the coarse black rocks. “If it weren’t for the squeezing sensation, I would think this was an out-of-body experience.” Continue reading “Everybody Eats”
Glad you could join us for the next beguiling episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…
Feeling an itch for excitement in the very soul of his single-footed self, Elliot forged a path up the hill that stretched further than even his fully extended eyes could see.
As his muscles, undulating beneath his glimmering skin, drove him ever forward, the sun rolled lazily across the sky, slowly stirring the air in its wake to blow a warm dry breath over his streamlined form, mocking his efforts with the very real threat of dehydration. His confidently rapid gait struggled against the parching wind and the thirst it left behind, and his progress slowed to the pace of a sleeping sloth.
A dark tendril of doubt crept over the crest of this endless uphill landscape. Should he admit defeat and turn back? Can a person ever go home again?
We recently received a form letter rejection of ENHANCED from an agency based in Tacoma, where 41″ of rain fall every year. That’s 2″ more than the national average, and doesn’t even count Tacoma’s annual 4″ of snow.
My point is that Tacoma is green. Emerald green.
A reminder: When Robb and I embarked on the Big Game Agent Safari, I decided to commemorate each rejection by making something beautiful.
Elation is the tide that ebbs and flows. Happiness, the wave that comes and goes. Beneath them both, unending currents roll, and so Resolve propels us to our goal. S.T. Ranscht
| Somewhere beyond the sea, Somewhere, waiting for me, An agent stands on golden sands And loves all the pages I’m sending. |
ENHANCED‘s Rejection N°2 arrived as a form email. It came from an agency in Colorado, so I thought it would be appropriate to focus on a meaningful creation that you might not consider classically “beautiful”.
ALL the authors say rejection is a very big part of trying to get published. To commemorate each rejection we receive for ENHANCED, and prevent it from being totally depressing, I’ve decided to make something beautiful. Because…
Some might call this shameless self-promotion, but until we sign an agent, who else is there to do this dirty job? Tomorrow, it’s back to the fun stuff! I promise.
Why was I going to apologize? Robb and I wrote Enhanced so we could work together to create a story we could share with people like us — people like you. We’re proud of what we’ve written. We believe it’ll stick with readers like good books do, and we dare to hope it can be a beacon for kids — and adults — who feel like they’re outside the mainstream.
So without apology, I want to tell you about it. But not about our “writing process” — in the name of all that’s holy, not the “writing process”! (…unless you ask…)
Since the beginning of language, there have been storytellers.
“Hey, do you mind if I tell you a story? One you might not have heard.” The 11th Doctor
Have we got a story for you!
“All I read is young adult science fiction, so when I tell you I’ve never read this story before, you know it’s original!” Jessica Watterson of The Sandra Dijkstra and Associates Literary Agency talking about Enhanced
Continue reading “Enhanced by Robert P. Beus and S.T. Ranscht”
Is there anything more boring than listening to unpublished authors talk about their “writing process”? Well, maybe out-of-work actors talking about roles they used to play and, in LA, The Industry. And any gamer anywhere talking about their avatar like it’s them. And first-time parents going on and on…and on about their week-old genius baby.
Space, Time, and Raspberries 
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