Ugh same! What I wouldn't give at this point for a barely legible scrawl from her at the bottom of a rejection that just said something like, This has real potential. Keep going!
I find it so strange to keep seeing these articles about how Iowa rejects novels of ideas when Sam Chang wrote The Family Chao, which is inspired by one of the most famous idea novels of all time, The Brothers Karamazov.
Congrats! What a feat! If you don't mind my asking, do you consider your work literary fiction? Or genre fiction? I wonder if my piece is too fantasy-leaning to ever be considered at a place like Iowa, even if the writing itself stood any chance.
Question for writers who apply multiple years, do you always keep the same references or find new mentors/teachers? If so, where do you look? I feel embarrassed asking the same people to help me out again with nothing to show for their previous efforts.