That would be me! I’m the world’s biggest hypocrite. I’m always complaining about people not reading signs or directions and today, I was a repeat offender.
So, good news–I have sent out queries to fifteen different places, agents and publishers. I have heard responses from three, two said thanks but no thanks, and one said, go ahead and send us the full manuscript so we can take a look.
I’m really excited about that, but do you know I misread the directions on submitting to this publisher not once, but twice. The first time, I misread the instructions for labeling my files. The second time, I sent the manuscript to the wrong e-mail address. Both times I corrected my errors, but my gosh. I sure hope this publisher doesn’t think: Well darn, she can’t follow instructions EVER.
I want to blame it on excitement, and just being tired. I keep telling myself not to submit late at night, because I make dumb errors, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Sometimes, I have to submit when I can, or it just won’t happen.
I know I’ve said it before, but preparing materials for submitting takes such a long time. I almost wonder if it’s not harder than writing the book itself.
So, anyway, my full manuscript is in the inbox of a teen lit publisher. I’m crossing my fingers and praying that they like it. But you know how it goes when you send off a submission. Just yesterday you liked your story just fine, but now that you know someone else is going to be reading and scrutinizing it, you’re thinking: Man that story sucks. Lol!
Well, here’s to hoping they don’t think it sucks. They liked the query and the first three chapters (prologue included.) So, we’ll see. And hey, if they don’t like it, it’s not the end of the world. I will continue to submit. There’s power in pressing “send”.
So now, I need to get back to writing new material while I wait. It’s hard, you feel restless, but you can’t put your other projects on hold for months while you wait for responses.
Until next time!
E. Ardell 
Yep, the first commandment of submissions is “Thou shalt read and follow all the submission guidelines.” 😉 But I’m just a humble sinner too. I primarily write and submit short fiction, and my latest submission disaster happened when I was submitting to three publishers at once (all of whom accepted sim-subs, of course). I have a boilerplate cover letter, where I just change the title of the story and the name of the publisher, and, yes, in my haste, I forgot to change the name of the publisher on one the submissions. Really embarrassing. Oddly enough, THAT publisher sent me a nice personal rejection and a request for more work. The others just sent form letters. Go figure.
You know, contrary to popular belief, editors can be kind. I e-mailed the publisher I sent to and apologized for my first mistake, and they were very nice about it and expressed interest in the submission. The second mistake with the e-mail address, I hope, won’t be a big deal. I did send to the right one in the end, after all :). Good luck to you!