I've been spending a lot of time reading submissions lately. My authors have been keeping me quite the busy editor. =) So, needless to say, my mind has been ruminating on it this past week.
One thing I love about reading submissions is that feeling of falling in love. That "oh my gosh I can't stop reading this" feeling. I love falling in love with the characters, the setting, the emotions, the plot… I love falling in love with a story and connecting with it and wanting to share it with everyone else. Wanting to see what other people think about it, wanting other people to fall in love with it as much as I did.
I love getting a new manuscript from one of my authors, something that's in a different vein than what they normally do, something that makes me fall in love with their writing all over again for different reasons. I like when my authors take risks, do something unexpected and outside of the box.
It's common knowledge that slush subs have less of an acceptance rate than manuscripts from "our" authors, but at one time "our" authors were slush too. Never forget that. No one starts out a NYT bestseller. I LOVE when I pick up an author out of my slush pile submissions. Especially an untried and unpublished author. That means I get to be the first one to see their talent, to go through the process with them, which is really exciting.
Sure, submissions are a necessary means, but they're exciting too. I love the excitement of opening a manuscript and becoming enthralled by it. I've even been late to social engagements and all sorts of things because I've been so wrapped up in reading a submission that I can't put it down. When that happens, you can better be sure the author is getting a happy email before I leave the house, and I'll be having a few celebratory drinks myself.
For me, finding an awesome manuscript is a bit like winning something off a scratch off ticket (which, now that I think about, I've never done. LOL). When I open the document, I never know what I'm going to get, but we all love it when we get a winner. =)
