Rejection Dejection

To avoid the fate of the author in this cartoon I've decided that for every rejection of a query, partial or complete manuscript I received I will send out at least one new query. Yes, my complete manuscript was rejected from two major agents but then, hey, this was the first time that these two agents had asked for the complete manuscript. I had gotten prompt HELL NOs from them for Burden.

I guess I feel more like the third runner up in a pageant and not the girl who never even made the first cut. Still hurts, but at least you can console yourself with, 'hey, at least I made it thus far,' and not feel like so much of a loser. Humpphhh

This strategy is keeping me going. *And* I've had three more requests for complete manuscripts, two just from the query, without even reading a partial (which is good and bad: i.e., did I just write a good query for a crap book? Yikes!). Here's the tally now:

Total queries: 27
No responses after 8 weeks: 6
Rejection on query: 5
Request for partials/rejections: 4/1
Request for complete/rejections: 4/1
New queries sent: 8


Onward ho!

Burden gets a new review

Sudeep Sen of Poetry Magazine in the UK recently posted a great review of my first novel, The Burden of Foreknowledge. I love it.

"The Burden of Foreknowledge by Jawahara Saidullah is a good example of how successfully period stories can be made to come alive to contemporary audiences. She does this with her keen sense of narrative, one that is at the same time descriptive and full of sidebar details, as well as brimming with drama and silence. The novel could have easily lapsed into mere nostalgia and history writing, but Saidullah successfully avoids that pitfall by using a writing style that is contemporary and believable and convincing."

The Burden of Foreknowledge reviewed on Sawf

Anjana Basu has reviewed Burden on the South Asian Women's Forum. Click on the title of this post to get there. She really hit the nail on the head by getting the connection with Cassandra.

On the shelf at Off the Shelf

Off the Shelf bookstore in Geneva is now stocking a few copies of my book, The Burden of Foreknowledge. I love this quaint little store, reached by a creaking, wooden spiral staircase. Almost as if it transports you to another world. It's small but they have a great selection of books and magazines. It's becoming my favorite place in Geneva.

Guess who's on India Tribune's fiction Feb 4 best seller list

Okay, I'm not sure what this actually means. Did 10 people in India buy my book last week or what? Still it's good to make some list right? The cool thing is I beat Hannibal Rising. Here's the list:

Next by Michael Crichton (damn that Crichton)
Can you Hear the Nightbird Call by Anita Rau Badami (okay, I like her)
The Burden by Foreknowledge by a certain Jawahara Saidullah (who the hell is *she*?)
The Peacock Throne by Sujit Saraf (sounds cool but I have no idea who he is )
Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris

The Hindu review

Click on the link. For some reason I couldn't make the link work in the launch post itself.

A photograph of the rapt audience

...well you really can't tell from this photograph of the backs of their heads...and the darkened room. But trust me they were rapt. Yup! :-)

Short snippets of conversation with Anees Jung

So Anees Jung came to my book launch and actually bought a book and I signed it for her. Me signing a book for a famous author. A strange world indeed!
I didn't catch her name when she first introduced herself to me and when I asked her to repeat her name she said, "I'm somewhat famous, but we won't go into that." I wanted to crawl under a rock. Of course I know who Anees Jung is. She's a famous writer, author of such books as Lost Spring: Stories of Stolen Childhood, Beyond the Courtyard, Unveiling India and Peace in Winter Gardens, Seven Sisters, etc. Her father was an advisor to the last Nizam and she is from Hyderabad though she lives in Delhi.
After the launch when cocktails were flowing freely, she asked me, "kya piyogi. Whiskey chahiye?" I am so not a whiskey person!

As the evening came to a close she asked my my husband's name. I told her.
"You married a Hindu. Good for you. Good! If I had ever got married I would have married a Christian. Yes."
"Why?" I asked.
"There's something about Christians and Christianity that just attracts me."

Well, that's as good a reason as any. I'm just sorry I didn't spend more time with her. She was utterly fascinating and refreshing. I've ordered a bunch of her books now and hope to read them all. I've been remiss. I've only read parts of Unveiling India and I feel utterly uneducated.

And now, Anees Jung is holding my book in her hands, turning the pages, reading my words. Part of me feels connected with the literary tradition in India, a member of the sisterhood of Indian writers. The other part is just mortified and insecure. What if she hates it? Even if she does, at least I can say, I signed a book for Anees Jung and she actually read it. So there!

Launch Part I: The Attic in Delhi, Jan 10,2007

This is a long overdue post.
I arrived in Delhi from Allahabad (i'd be been delayed there since my dad fell quite ill) the morning of the 10th. Slept on and off since I was quite exhausted and picked up some clothes I'd given for sewing. I wanted to be at the venue early to collect my thoughts and figure out how I was going to use my 5 minutes before Ghazala's reading. I was so stressed about my dad and the upcoming event. However, about 20 minutes away from CP, my sister's car died. It just died at a red light. Luckily there was a garage across the road and so a bunch of guys pushed the car (with me in it) out of the way.

So then I took an auto and inhaled fumes all the way to CP during rush hour. Charming! Then I couldn't find the damned building. Hey, I'm not from Delhi, what do I know? One guard at a store directed me up some rather dodgy looking stairs whcih led to some some shady looking offices but no attic. Down I came and found the right stairs.

The Attic is a small (ok, very small) space, which is still quite cool looking and very artsy. Rough walls, wooden floors, etc. No one I knew from the publisher was there but there was a table with my books and others. I sat for a few minutes and then they arrived. But just as I was going through the book trying to collect my scattered thoughts they arrived as did the reporter from The Hindu.

I talked to the reporter for a while trying to sound appropriately literary and composed but feeling like a total fraud. Still that's me. Then Ghazala arrived. I hadn't seen her for close to 16-17 years. Ok, now I'm stressed, feeling like a fraud and old. OLD!

Ghazala Amin is my brother-in-law's (Shahid Amin, married to my sister Bano) sister and a big media person in Delhi. While asking her to do the reading my editor (in trying to place me) said I was Shahid Amin's sister-in-law and did Ghazala know Shahid? Weird, small world huh?

Anyway, the room filled up. I was feeling incredibly alone. It was great to have people there but no one I loved was there. B had to be back in Geneva and my sister had rushed to Allahabad to be with my dad. Add weepy and sad to that list.

Ghazala had them light candles all around the room. We sat on two chairs at the front of the room. A candle burned on the low table in front of us and a cool looking uplight lantern also sat on the table. Very mysterious and cool looking ambience.

I realized how much of a reclusive writer and how not a media type person I am. Not the greatest time or place to make this definitive realization.

Ok, if you come back in a day or so I'll have Launch Part II and maybe even some photos up here!

More later

The Business Standard: click on it to read it fully

The Indian Express (click on it to read the whole article)

Hindustan Times, December 14

Yay! They list it as a must read book.