Part 2 Is Up On AO3!!

Part 2 is up on AO3!!

tfw you're still working on a second draft of a novel and you have the almost undeniable urge to write fanfic of your own novel because you've got Some Trans Shit To Work Through

Round 2 of Queries sent

I got an (honestly very kind and nice) rejection on a partial manuscript request, leaving me with one open request for a full manuscript that is still open and 3 submissions over 90 days that I hadn't heard from.

So, time for another round of submissions.

Here's how the first round went - pretty damn good I'd say. 4 requests for further material out of 14 subs is a 29% request rate, which is GREAT.

I completed another 7 submissions today. So. Now it's time for... more waiting!

There's been this promotion running at Loblaw-owned grocery stores (one of the 2 major chains in Canada) for several weeks where the cashiers have been asking if you want any "limited edition" Marvel trading cards. And I guess everyone's been saying no, because today...

So naturally I had to check in with my 12 y.o. when I got home.

Me: Okay, C. I need you to confirm something for me as a marketer. How long has it been since anyone in your class cared about the Avengers?

C: [stares at me blankly for several seconds]

Me: Do you not remember?

C: ...kindergarten...????

Which goes to confirm my theory that this whole promotion was some out-of-touch C-level executive going THE, UH, MARVEL... SOMETHING... UNIVERSE? WE'RE DOING THAT. KIDS LOVE THAT SHIT, and then MULTIPLE corporate departments of people being too afraid to tell this guy that he's an out-of-touch moron.

I'm now a marketer, but a long time ago, I used to work for a company that did this type of promotional printing, and I can guarantee that:

At least 3 different departments in Loblaw had to sign off on this

Disney's legal department made everyone who touched this project at any point hate the entire thing from top to bottom.

Somewhere between 20 and 30 people ended up wanting to psychically incinerate the exec who thought of this by the time the promotion launched.

Some middle-level marketing manager is crying about how they're going to create vanity metrics to measure that won't make this look like a complete and total waste of time and money.

So yeah. This whole thing is deeply hilarious to me, specifically, from top to bottom.

It's a hellish time to be unemployed.

"AI" has enshittified already-terrible ATS (applicant tracking system) software, making it even harder to get your resume seen by a human.

Text-generated AI spam applications means that new jobs are being posted for 2 days before being closed because they're being flooded with hundreds of fake applicants.

HALF of hiring managers admit they think it's acceptable to post fake jobs, and two fifths say they've done it in the past year.

So it's no surprise that nearly 4 months after being laid off, my job hunt is Not Going Well. And today I broke 3 digits on job applications!

My job hunt in 2022 was hellish - 127 job applications and 17 companies interviewed with to get my last job. And yet, I'd give just about anything to go back to THAT job landscape and not this enshittified nightmare fuel hellscape.

Apparently I'm writing a multi-chapter fanfic of characters from a novel that hasn't been published yet to work through That Trans Shit idk

Part 2 is up on AO3!

Kissing, as it usually did, led to other things. (Even after more than two years together Corey and Dee still struggled to keep their hands off one another when given the opportunity.) Corey was almost unbearably sweet as he undressed Dee, asking if they'd wanted to leave their binder on (they didn't) and urging them to tell him if something felt wrong.

However, while Dee wouldn't have said that anything felt wrong, exactly, neither did it feel right. Corey was doing all the things that used to drive them wild, but the physical sensations felt as if they were coming from a million miles away. As if they were happening to someone else. Their body gasped and moaned at his touch, but it didn't feel like it meant anything.

Read the whole thing on AO3

Read Part 1 here

Another rejection, from the agent who'd requested a partial manuscript, but this one was at least very nice.

That leaves me with one outstanding request for a full manuscript, and a lot of open queries at 3+ months, so... time for another round of queries.