Positive Thinking? October 16, 2010

I’ve been chatting with a fellow novelist and my cheerleader about what happens next now that agents are reading the full manuscript. I had a certain way of looking at “what if” and while it was different from my novelist friend’s, I thought there was no harm in it.

Except, now I think there might be.

What I was referring to (in my mind) as a fear of jinxing things–because, let’s face it, I am a little superstitious at times–may have really been a fear of disappointment. I was afraid to talk about how well my manuscript is doing, and what may come next, because doing so would guarantee all the agents will reject the book. Sounds like a valid superstition to me, except…

It also says I don’t believe in my writing. If I *KNOW* my book is good enough to be published, then I should be confident that someone will see it too. If I believe every agent will eventually pass on my manuscript, then I’m saying I don’t have faith in what I’ve written; that I don’t think it’s good enough to be published.

If the above paragraph is true then I have no business querying agents and wasting their time. I HAVE TO BELIEVE IN WHAT I’VE WRITTEN. So, with that in mind, I am moving forward from this point with my head held high and a stereotypically-determined glint in my eye. I believe in my book, dammit!

So far, so too do a number of agents.

I have EIGHT fulls and one partial out with agents right now. That’s right.

EIGHT.

FULLS.

I am going to start investigating the sorts of questions I should ask WHEN an agent calls to offer representation. I’ll let you know what I find.

C.

*I believe in my manuscript, dammit!*

MY Game, Dammit! October 11, 2010

No more worrying and doubting my own work’s worth!

I started writing to please myself, to have fun, and to see if I could do it.

I love writing, it IS fun, and I did it – I have the book coming out in May 2011 to prove it.

So, you know what? I’m good. I’m fine. I’m me.

This is my game and I’m going to play it in a way that makes me happy. If I want to get excited when an agent emails to ask for the full manuscript, I’m going to damn well get excited. This process has rules (I get that and I’m not suggesting I’m planning on deviating from them), but no one is holding a gun to my head forcing me to sweat and angst over my inbox.

I write because I love to write, not because I’m hoping an agent will pick me up and whisk me off to fame and fortune. I will keep writing whether The Firestorm Conspiracy is my first or last novel.

I will keep tossing my completed works out into the world because they’re good. I KNOW they’re good, and I’m not going to let the little voice in the back of my head tell me otherwise.

I’m not going to pretend to be blasé about the fulls that are out right now. They’re a BIG DEAL. So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to wander off and celebrate with a moment of *squee* and maybe a little something chocolate…

C.

My game. My rules. My passion.

Self-Doubt October 10, 2010

Okay, I’m going to be honest with you.

The query process for Nikko’s Bond is going so un-freaking-believably well I should be doing cartwheels around the equator. Seriously. Remember how deliriously happy I was when an agent asked for a partial back when I was querying Firestorm? Well, what’s going on here makes that milestone look like soggy leaves clogging a storm drain.

Why then, am I not driving you nuts with constant posts about it?

(And why does my house smell like banana bread after I cooked chicken? Although, that’s a matter for another time.)

I have two reasons for not blabbing all over the interwebz.

1) Apparently it is poor form to post one’s rejection/request stats. This makes sense. After all, let’s say you post that you’ve sent out 5,000 queries and only two agents have asked to see partials. If there’s an agent considering asking for more material, and they wander over to your site and see those stats, they may start to question their own interest. And how many agents want to be the 5,001st agent queried? Sure, they know we query widely, but to be that low on your list isn’t going to endear you to them.

2) I’m having trouble accepting it for what it is. I feel like I’m fooling people with my query, and that the agents who ask for more are getting the manuscript, reading it, and reacting with OMG-one-night-stand remorse. (I have nothing to base this on, as I haven’t heard back from these agents, but it’s pretty much what’s going through my head.) But then I look at my submissions to these agents and I am forced to acknowledge that I sent more than just a query to several of them – so they asked to read more because they liked what they already read. At which point my sex-guilt analogy kicks in again and I am left wondering if the requests (especially ones that come after a nudge on a query) are the equivalent of pity sex.

Then I wander over to sites like QueryTracker.net and discover that some of the agents who asked to see more have stats like:

427 queries received. 9 requests for fulls.

1049 queries received. 43 requests for partials.

Surely these stats should be enough to banish the doubts I have about my writing. Surely! But no, here I am wallowing in misery because I am afraid to get excited about the level of interest in my novel.

Have you faced feelings like this before? What do you do when you feel this way?

C.

Horrible Query Contest Results September 21, 2010

I didn’t win (or even place) in Natalie Fischer’s query contest, but I did earn an honourable mention for my unreasonable contact specifications, which was lovely. It’s always reassuring to learn something you wrote as humorous comes across that way. It makes me think the small things I add to my manuscripts will give one or two people a chuckle instead of causing eye rolls and utterances of , “lame.”

The top twenty queries in the Adventures in Children’s Publishing contest/mentorship were posted today, and I am saddened to say I was not one of them. One of my WriteOnCon friends was, and I am very happy for her. Should the opportunity arise in the future, I will query the agent judging the contest (Sarah LaPolla) because she seems really awesome for giving up her free time to help aspiring authors out.

Query! Query! Query! September 20, 2010

Whee!

I love querying!

Seriously.

Whee!

*Dives back into the query trench*

Fulls = Hope for Love September 19, 2010

An agent reads a query and wonders if the book is something he or she wants to read more of. In my mind this is kind of like saying, “Hmm,” or “Ooo.” They are hopeful, but still somewhat reserved.

At this point, the author’s heart rate accelerates because a request for a partial frequently follows.

When an agent reads a partial, one of two things happen: he/she decides he/she doesn’t want to read more (for a number of reasons, some include a feeling of regret), or he/she loves what he/she has seen so far and becomes desperate to read more.

Honestly.

The agent thinks he/she is falling in love. They have a moment of *squee* and they have visions devouring the remainder of the manuscript and wailing because there’s no more.

When the request for a full comes in, the author gasps, re-reads to make sure it isn’t a prank or typo, and happy dances even if strangers are watching.

What I keep forgetting is the agent’s reaction. I know how I feel when emails fly into my inbox, whether they are rejections, or requests for partials and fulls. I can’t help but think the agent is like, “Meh, it might be good, better ask for more pages,” but that’s not the case. Agents are too busy to ask for something “just in case,” or because it’s “all right.” When an agent asks for a full it’s because what I’ve written is singing to his/her soul.

Love.

My book.

Love.

Honestly.

Now how cool is that?

C.

Worried About WriMo September 17, 2010

Maybe I’ve forgotten what starting my classroom is like in September, or maybe my class is somehow different, but I am exhausted. I am soooo glad I finished Nikko’s Bond in the summer because there’s no way I have the energy to do more than blog and fire off the occasional query.

And this worries me.

I have committed to doing NaNoWriMo. How am I going to muster the energy required to do that when I can barely stay awake? I hope, hope, hope I will be feeling on top of things come Hallowe’en, otherwise this WriMo may miss the boat.

C.

Query Contest Entry September 15, 2010

I wasn’t going to enter this contest because my query is doing rather well for me, but when Natalie tweeted last night that there was still space, I couldn’t resist. I popped over to her blog, and left this entry:

Dear Ms. Fischer:

Dally Ance is a high-priced NYC callgirl with a penchant for solving hotel murders. Her latest hits close to her red sequined pocketbook when she stumbles upon the body of her Johnny-come-lately boyfriend-come-pimp, Flyn G. in the linen cart on the 35th floor of the Astoria.

With only a neon green lipstick tube and the hastily scribbled name of a horse–at least, she hopes it’s a horse because she’d kill Flyn G. herself if he was seeing anyone named Musty Cheeseboard–Dally faces her toughest mystery yet.

Dealing with crooked cops, government cover-ups, and a new handler who’s more pimple than pimp, Dally ends up sprawled against the wall (and not in a good way) when she’s forced to choose: uncover Flyn’s murderer and risk “disappearing” herself, or stand by as the police sweep Flyn’s case under the rug, leaving the killer free to strike again.

ESCORT EXPIRED is a 69,069-word romantic mystery with thrills and chills (and a few good sex tips) suitable for anyone with sufficient blood-flow to blush.

This is my fifty-seventh book in the series, but the first one I’ve sent out to agents (woot! losing my query cherry!). I like to knit and collect UPC codes from bologna packages (I once won a cruise!) whenever I’m not at the keyboard. Please contact me between 9:00 a.m. and 9:17 a.m. EDT on even-numbered days, or between 10:42 p.m. and 10:48 p.m. on odd-numbered days (unless there’s an new moon, half moon, or full moon – then you need to add 23 minutes to odd times or subtract 4 hours and 53 minutes from even times). I only check my email on February 29th, so phone is best.

I look forward to your rave reviews and offer of representation.

Sincerely,

Ima Weebit-Wacko

************

Natalie will be announcing the winners on her blog on Monday September 20th, so stay tuned!

C.

Two Fun Contests September 13, 2010

The first is a pitch contest with Curtis Brown agent, Sarah LaPolla judging (http://faeriality.blogspot.com/2010/09/agent-pitch-contest-sarah-lapolla.html). You get a maximum of four sentences (could be worse, last contest was 140 CHARACTERS) to sell her on your novel. The prize has yet to be announced, but will be in tomorrow’s blog post when the contest opens.

The second contest is being run by Sandra Dijkstra agent, Natalie Fischer (http://adventuresinagentland.blogspot.com/2010/09/in-bad-taste-horrendously-hilarious.html). If you’ve ever wanted to send a HORRIBLE query letter to an agent to see what sort of response it garnered, here’s your chance. The most awful query letter wins! The prizes for the most suck-tacular queries are as follows:

“1st Place: (Natalie) will WRITE a query for you.

-Yes, that’s right; a bona-fide agent pitch, just for you! Query, detailed synopsis, and first ten pages of your manuscript will be required. A critique of all materials sent will also be included.

2nd Place: critique of query, synopsis, and first ten pages.

3rd Place: critique of query.”

Pretty cool!

In other news, I talked at my staff meeting about the NaNoWriMo YWP (Young Writer’s Program) and two more teachers are interested in trying it out! Hooray! That means we may have 120+ students engaging in 30 days and 30 nights of literary abandon!

Query Fun September 12, 2010

Some of you may be wondering why I’m not giving you a blow-by-blow description of my querying tactics and their success (or not) given that I write something every day. I have two reasons for this: one, I don’t want to jinx things (yes, good things come to those whose query letter rocks), and two, if an agent decided to cruise by my blog and saw I had 465 rejections (which I don’t! At this point the number is sitting at 15, so neener, neener, neener!), they’d probably wonder what was wrong with my book and run away screaming.

So, you’ll have to bear with me and have faith that I am having a tonne of fun querying (I am, I love it), and I am seeing the types of results authors want to see. I am not dejected, bitter, or even ambivalent. I am excited, happy, and enthusiastic. I promise, that once things are over (for good or ill) I will fill you in on my query saga. Until then, imagine me sitting by my inbox, hitting refresh every five seconds, and squealing whenever mail arrives.

Life is grand when you’re submitting your work to agents.

C.