Okay, maybe not love. But I would be happy to write for Hilary just for the emails I get.

My favorite rejection was for the third of the Somebody series [no, I did NOT NAME THE BOOKS]  because it had "an overwhelming ick factor."

She had a point. I'm still writing the thing, though.

Here's my first official HS rejection letter versus email. It was for Unnatural Calamities (which started as an exercise in jamming in as many romance cliches as possible and making them realistic).

Thanks for the look at AMNESIA, A SECRET BABY, COPS, GUNS, A MILLIONAIRE VENTURE CAPITALIST, TWINS, AN EVIL TWIN, A BAD BOY, BATHTUB SEX, HANDCUFFS, A FISH OUT OF WATER, A RANGER TYPE, A COWBOY, A MISUNDERSTANDING, AND A GORGEOUS MODEL EX-WIFE -- and sorry to say no, because I think that would be a fabulous title. . . .

Contemporaries need to be Flashy and Funny to connect with today's readers  . . . and this was more, um, amiable in tone. And yes, Just Plain Amiable is a tough sell.

So there -- I did read it. I get around to everything eventually.

H

My friend, L., went ballistic about this rejection. She took it far harder than I did. "WHAT is WRONG with amiable? The world needs amiable! I  LOVE that book." 

Turns out it wasn't just love of the book and the glasses of wine we were drinking that made her so emotional about the rejection. She'd recently taken one of those tests that tell you about your personality. A Myers-Briggs sort of thing. I think the different personality types were "directive" "task-oriented" and "amiable." You get two per person (one for interactions, one for tasks, maybe??)  depending where you land in the chart.

She measured Amiable-Amiable. Clearly a hot-button word.