Persistence

They say it pays off in the end.  One of my favorite quotes is "Life's real failure is when you do not realize how close you were to success when you gave up."  Often, that keeps me going, especially when I get one of those polite rejection letters that says "I really liked it, but I can't take it on right now."  The nice ones.  The ones where they aren't just xeroxed form letters that are cold and generic and faceless.  If someone takes the time to write me a personal note, even if its a rejection, they generally stay on my agent list.  I figure the cold, generic letters don't care, aren't even slightly interested.  The handwritten ones - the personal note that shows they've read your proposal - those are the agents worth remembering.

They say an agent should be like interviewing a friend.  You want someone you connect with, someone you feel will represent you well and that "gets" you.  I sent out a new batch of queries last week, and now I play the waiting game.  I'm still waiting for some from my first batch, but I feel I've got a much stronger query letter now.  My first batch was largely email queries, and the second batch is snail mail, and might I say that I'm amazed at how many agents still prefer snail mail!  That being said, one agent that I queried maintains a blog that shows the status of queries to the agency.  Interesting little piece of information, they have over 150 email queries still to sort through and 0 (yes, that's a ZERO) snail mail queries.  Makes you kinda think maybe snail mail wouldn't be so bad for those agents that are taking both.  On the other hand, in the interest of being "green," it's a lot of paper (and some expense) to go the snail mail route, so email is more environmentally friendly.  However, it might not be as agent friendly considering the glut of proposals they have to sort through.

And so, as I've said, I'm back to waiting.  Feeling good about my proposal - better than with the first batch of queries - so hoping for the best.  And while I'm waiting, I think I'll go back and sharpen my proposal for Epitaph.  I didn't do proper shopping for that one because I was so excited about moving ahead with the Legend People, so time to slow things down a bit and do the business end of writing for a while.

I'll keep you posted . . .

Anon

. . . the behinder I get

Trying to keep up as the pace of life picks up once again.

The good news is that I'm nearly finished with my edits of The Legend People.  The semi-good news is that I haven't received any additional rejections - yet.  My process is to send a handful of queries out (cream of the crop, if you will) and wait for them to come in.  If no nibbles on the first go-round, check for improvements in the query letter/synopsis and send out a new batch.  I'd begun to jump the gun a bit on improving, but I'm exercising some patience (although still reviewing for "better").

In addition to trying to keep up with myself, I'm attempting to honor my New Year's resolution of losing some poundage, I'm involved with a family wedding which entails Bridal expos and bridesmaid's dresses, etc. and busy season at the day job is right around the corner just waiting for the dam to burst.  It's an exciting time of year, to be sure.  The adrenalin is pumping!  So apologies ahead of time if I get behind in my blogging.  I promise to keep you up to date as new information becomes available.

Staying motivated

I started my New Year sending out queries, doubtless like thousands (if not millions) of other authors.  My process is to send out a handful at a time, more or less to test the water.  If I get flat, form letter rejections, I know I need to tweak things a bit.  Then again, the agents are likely being overwhelmed and are more likely to send those flat, form rejections. 

So far, I've received two rejections - both with form letters.  The amazing thing is the amount of time it took to get them back.  Often, it takes a month or longer to hear back on a query.  The fact that I got them both back within a day or two tells me those agents are inundated and don't want to spend the time.  On the other hand, it also shows me that I could improve my query somewhat.  I'll wait until the rest of my handful comes back, but in the meantime, I'm rethinking my query letter.

In the meantime, my new Christmas gift - my Kindle - has inspired me to put Intimate Distance on Smashwords (an e book site), so anyone interested in picking up an electronic version of that book can now buy it in multiple formats for the low, low price of $0.99!  And just to make it easier for you, here's the link Click here for Intimate Distance, the e-book.

Editing continues on my Legend People book, and I'm still excited about it, although motivation dwindles when rejections begin to float in.  The thing that pushes me on, however, is that I'm still excited about the story.  I've written six books to date.  Some of them I never even tried to market because even I didn't think they were very interesting.  A couple of them I like, but I believe they could be better, but I haven't been this sure of a story since my first one - this engaged with it.  Maybe its subjective interest - like with everything involved with this business.  Enough to keep plugging along with the mundane part of writing.  At the end of the day, if you don't believe in your writing, its hard to convince someone else to like it.  As long as I'm still interested in the story, I feel confident I can interest someone else in it - enthusiasm is contagious.  So the process continues  . . .