Stages of Rejection #7: Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Oh, the irony. The horrible, horrible irony.

As today's cartoon brings us to the final stage of coping with rejection, and our cartoon writer finally gets on with her writing life, our cartoonist turned on the computer this morning to find...yet another novel rejection! So, since the Seven Stages of Rejection are always out there and waiting, I'll once again become a traveler on that path. Like some horrible writerly version of the Stations of the Cross. Go back to Stage One. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200 (though, again ironically, I just did collect $200 for a freelance gig--really). And, to add insult to injury, Snoop Dogg is joining the ranks of celebrity children's book authors (via SCBWI's online newsletter). SIGH.

To view all the stages of rejection together (but in reverse order, so you'll have to start from the bottom up), click here.

Toon Thursday: Stages of Rejection #6 (Fortified with Extra Linkage!)

Oh yes--our writer is slowly but surely recovering from that most insidious of repetitive mental stress disorders: writerly rejection. I mean, bargaining--that's practically normal behavior, right? Right. At this stage, there's nothing that a nice tall glass of iced tea and several hours in front of the television won't cure. (Huh. Don't confuse this with Stage 3, okay?)

Anyway, in other news, I've been cruising around the internets and not having time to post anything due to being sick and blah, so here are a few items that caught my interest over the past week or so:

• Here, via Chasing Ray, comes a really cool-looking graphic novel by Bryan Talbot, who I remember from Sandman days as well as from a more recent read, The Tale of One Bad Rat (which I SWEAR I reviewed, but I can't find it...oh well).


• Speaking of Neil Gaiman (sorta), check out his podcast from the British Library about his film treatment of the great Indian epic Ramayana (and check out the fabulous online Ramayana exhibition).


• Via Slayground, some fabulous authors like Justina Chen Headley, Lisa Yee, Grace Lin, and Mitali Perkins, among others, are getting together to produce Fusion Stories, a website alerting interested readers in great new lit featuring Asian Americans. Hurrah! It looks like it'll be a great resource.


• Via the SCBWI newsletter, check out the nominees for this year's Irish Children's Book Awards (scroll down for the two children's book categories). I was pleased to see one of our Cybils SFF finalists, Skulduggery Pleasant, get a nod.


• Last but not least, Cynsations has a nice interview with Carla Killough McClafferty. Although Carla writes kids' nonfiction rather than YA fiction, I have to give her a nod because she is such a lovely person. When I sat next to her at the faculty dinner for the SCBWI summer conference last year, feeling like I must be a complete loser--as the only person there who hadn't written a published book or otherwise been involved in the publication process; as a lowly blogger, sitting at a table with the likes of Cecil Castellucci and Roxyanne Young (of Smartwriters.com)--she made me feel welcome and encouraged. Thanks, Carla!

Toon Thursday: Stages of Rejection #5

Yes, our intrepid writer has ventured out of the house! The recovery process is well and truly underway. As you can see, this also marks the return of Le Cafe Snooty, our cartoon writer's favorite hangout...

Lately it seems like I'm mostly a toon monkey, but I promise to post some links soon which I've collected over the past few days--I have a few really good ones!! Also, I have something in the works for Poetry Friday tomorrow, too. It's frustrating to be blog-absent--I've hardly even posted on my personal blog. Ah, the tribulations of work...

Toon Thursday: Stages of Rejection #4

As you can see, we're finally moving out of the doldrums and into recovery. For the first three stages, click here, here, and here.

I also participated in Art By Committee again this week, over at the blog of illustrator James Gurney (of Dinotopia fame). This week's was pretty tough--I'm not sure mine quite lives up to the others, but I had fun given the limited time I had this week. And I look forward to participating in Poetry Friday tomorrow--I have fun stuff! It's all picked out already!

Toon Thursday: Stages of Rejection #3

I've also got a handful of links today, because I've been cruising around everyone's blogs, trying to get caught up! This past week I got a kick out of the 7-Imps' interview with illustrator Kadir Nelson, who TadMack and I got to see at the SCBWI summer conference last year. Gorgeous man, gorgeous artwork--don't miss the Q&A with E&J.

Speaking of interviews, Cynsations is really on a roll with the 2008 SCBWI Bologna interviews. Don't miss another great interview with Cybil SF/Fantasy finalist Kathleen Duey, author of Skin Hunger.

Courtesy of PW's ShelfTalker comes another creative way to deal with rejection. The column's hilarious, but don't miss the photo... On a totally different note is Children's Book Week, coming up in May--the Children's Book Council announced in a press release that they are launching the Children's Choice Book Awards. Twenty-five finalists were announced in five categories, and kids can vote for their favorites at the website. The whole thing seems like a great potential classroom activity to me. Plus I was happy to see a few Cybils finalists in there...

Another potential classroom resource is BigUniverse.com, a new contribution to the world of online children's books where you can read books online and connect with other children's book readers and writers. It's also possible for members to publish their own online children's book on the site. It's a nicely designed, friendly site for picture book enthusiasts.

Toon Thursday: Stages of Rejection #2

We're well underway on our "Seven Stages of Rejection" now. The irony, of course, is that I've already gotten over the rejection that spawned this seven-week burst of creativity, and I've already sent out new queries and gotten on with my life. On the other hand, I don't have to agonize over cartoon ideas for the next few weeks. Hmm...perhaps that rejection had quite a significant silver lining. (Click here for Stage One, in case you missed last week.)

Speaking of cartoons about rejection, I came across an excellent cartoon (originally from The Onion) on reasons for rejection at the blog of kt literary. The blog is called Ask Daphne! and it's got a lot of useful info from an agent's perspective.

I'll be back tomorrow--with my first-ever contribution to Poetry Friday! Now I've announced it to the public at large, so I can't wuss out!

Toon Thursday: In Which I Honor and Share My Feelings

Today's toon kicks off the first in a series of seven. Yes, in honor of my most recent rejection letter, I'm exercising another coping mechanism that I forgot to put in my post on the subject. In fact, I frequently cope with life's little annoyances by drawing cartoons about them, and I've done this since at least college. I remember one notable instance from my freshman year when everyone in my dorm hallway was driving me nuts, so I created a large "Wanted" poster with tiny caricatures of everyone and snarky comments, and posted that on the bulletin board. (To quote Matt Groening, "It is unwise to annoy a cartoonist.") So, for the next six weeks you'll continue reading about my personal Seven Stages of Rejection.

On a more encouraging note, you can also find more of my scribblings at this week's Art By Committee selection over at Gurney Journey. And don't forget to check out Little Willow's little list of Cooking Up a Storm books--including my trusty co-blogger! Last but not least, Cynsations has put up another great interview with a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Cybils nominee--check out the Q&A with Cassandra Clare. She shares some great writing advice from her own experience, like the following: "I thought everything had to be perfect before I could show it to anyone, which means I never got any feedback on anything, and without feedback I couldn't work on improving. It was a vicious cycle." If you enjoyed City of Bones, go take a look at the interview.