Jeanne Ann Macejko has been a professional communicator for more than 25 years—first as an English teacher, then as a corporate marketing manager/consultant, a university instructor of graphic design and as a medical illustrator. Degreed in English and art, she has written advertising promotions, publicity features, newsletters and educational materials for hospitals, psychiatric facilities and other health care clients as well as manufacturers, real estate developers, sales organizations and non-profits.

Together with her husband, Jeanne taught for several years in rural Ireland. While living in Texas and Ohio, she has been active with various writing groups and Sisters in Crime, including participating in seminars and conferences both in the states and in the UK.

• A MILLION CHAMELEONS
  Illustrated children's book published in 2004 by Shane Murphy Press
  (20 color pages, plus cover) Written, researched & illustrated for children 8-14
• A MILLION CHAMELEONS: Color Your Own Chameleons
  Published in 2005 by Shane Murphy Press
  (28 ready-to-color pages, plus cover) For children 8-14
• BREAKING THE SALES BARRIER: How to Develop Million Dollar Producers Sales training book published in 2001 by National Underwriter
  Researched and ghostwritten for Randy Schwantz (Concept to pre-press in 110 days.)
• KEYSTONE CORPSE - unpublished 100,000-word detective fiction
  The killer bride's wake was a bloody one, murder victims pointing the way to old scores settled. As days turned to weeks and the trail went cold, DI Cieran Loch and his team chased their suspect across Wales, to the Cornish coast and across the Irish Sea.
• BIG D DEAD: Persons Unnamed - unpublished 75,000-word mystery
  The severed head of an unidentified man on a railroad siding brings together three strangers. During one sizzling Texas summer, three tales unfold and intertwine. And the body count climbs.
• ROSE FEVER - unpublished 105,000-word novel
  When a modern couple is ensnared in a medieval murder, the reader must decide whom to trust—the philandering husband, the neurotic wife or the ghost of Fair Rosamund Clifford.  Set in the Welsh border town of Hay-on-Wye, where everyone is a bibliophile, this literary whodunit is part medical mystery/ part ghost story and all psychological chiller.

Rejection is a injury you can feel coming a long way off. The lover sees it in the partner’s eyes before any words are spoken. Friends spot the approaching chill the way leaves on trees feel autumn. Writers sense it instantly and remotely. The letter is a mere formality.

Papering the walls with rejection letters is a popular misconception. The truth is, fewer and fewer agents and publishers write rejection letters today, even the dreaded form letter. Add the agent or editor’s return address to every stamped, self-addressed envelope because many won’t identify themselves. Some simply return a query with the word “No” scrawled across it. More cut a sheet of paper into thirds and slide these thin slips of disappointment unsigned into waiting envelopes. They reject writers anonymously three to a page. An economy of pain, or at least paper.

Writers also test for rejection via email. The turnaround time is not generally improved by technology, although one agent expressed her disinterest in my project only four minutes after I sent the query.

Agents warn that if return postage is provided, unsolicited manuscripts will be returned unread. Otherwise they are recycled unread. If a query is sent by registered mail and someone has to sign for it, they won’t. Top literary agents don’t accept submissions from anyone, ever. I have come to the conclusion that the publishing industry’s unspoken goal is to find the next DaVinci Code entirely by sense of smell.

It’s been my practice to court rejection at intervals because I’d never survive a steady diet of it. I assemble tidy, professional packages and carry bundles of them to the post office. My proposals are sent in flights, three weeks apart, a dozen or so at a time. It makes the hope last longer. One in every dozen recipients will ask for an extended synopsis or sample chapters. One in four of those will request the complete manuscript. None has ever returned a contract.

I have lost count of how many times I’ve survived this torture. It takes years to recover from these ordeals. Years when I avoid writing and focus on my day job. Years of building sufficient scar tissue to withstand another round.

At book signings, authors often share their first publication story — which generally happened so quickly that it took them by surprise. But upon questioning, I uncovered a common thread. For I rarely meet a published author who is not the blood relative of an editor or another publisher author. Like the DAR, it seems to be a club you must be born to, a closed, nepotic circle.

That being said, magic can happen. My first time was the first time. Between jobs, I penned a “trashy romance.” In those days the profession was dominated by men, so I selected five female literary agents from a list. I sent each a copy of my manuscript — which was acceptable practice back then. Weeks later, I received a mailgram, claiming that the agent had been unable to reach me by telephone and would be pleased to represent my book and me. I will never forget my first meeting with Ros Targ.

© 2009 by Jeanne Ann Macejko

JEANNE ANN MACEJKO
13131 Pennystone Drive / Dallas, TX 75244
www.jeannegenie.com
jeannegenie@tx.rr.com