Reasons For Moving

No. But...

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:51:47 -0400

I have to admit that I know sometimes I'm shooting for the top and that the top is, well, most likely out of reach. But aiming for a certain goal (or over it) costs me nothing so I go for it.

You might remember that I queried an agent at a certain agency and that he fell off the face of the earth. Then the namesake of the agency got back to me personally. I hadn't heard from her but someone with that level of agentitude, I didn't want to push & pester. She was kind enough to ask for the first 100 pages so I was beyond myself with glee at that.

That said, she finally got back to me today with good and bad news:

Thanks so much for giving me a chance at this – and my apologies for taking so long to get back to you. You’re right, there is a Tawni O’Dell quality to your writing and to this story – which means that I’m very impressed by the way you set down sentences. But it also means that in many ways this story feels too familiar to me. I know you’re going to get a wonderful agent, but I’m afraid I’m going to pass.

So just when I was beginning to think maybe I should give up on RFM and that I might have better luck querying WS, I got some wonderful encouragement, the first really encouraging thing I've had on the piece for a long time. I'm not surprised she'd pass (I think I might have melted into a puddle of goo if she'd said, "Send me a whole") and I thought it was very nice for her to write a personal note instead of a general rejection or something that's like what agents say in lieu of "no thanks" (like "this piece isn't right for me").

I have some more queries out and I wrote a couple of sentences on Nine this afternoon. I really need to reread it b/c I'm blanking out on what's happened in it. Then I can do some new work provided the kids stop dragging chairs around the kitchen in order to get snacks out of cabinets or play "tower."

That's the state of things. Plus the kids are playing semi-quietly in Zoe's room and Hawk is supposed to bring us dinner from McD's. Things are pretty good.

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Aaand we're back to querying

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:50:24 -0400

I just sent a new query. Maybe I'm not supposed to pore over every single agent, research the agency, figure out if the agent might actually like my stuff, etc. but I really do pick and choose the agents I'm querying. So I think sometime in the next 10-20 years, I'll be able to exhaust the querying process for RFM and switch over to WS.

I never heard back from the one who still has the full via e-mail. I wrote and asked him if he could tell me that he got it & never replied to that either. So I don't know to be passive-aggressive and sit back & wait in a case like that or get all up in his grill. I think I'm going to do some more querying and then if nothing pans out, I'll send a brand new e-mail asking if his silence means he's passing or what the deal is. *sigh*

Ah, querying. ;)

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And then there was one

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:19:50 -0500

I currently only have one active query out there and it's in Dream Agent's hands (or more accurately, his inbox). As I said before, I don't query far & wide. I research carefully and look at who's a good fit for what I write.

The rejection on the partial includes this: "Though I found your material to be unique and intriguing, unfortunately I've decided this project is not right for me. As a reader, I did not connect to your narrative enough to take on the project." Then he said he was sorry it wasn't a good fit and it was signed.

So that's a pretty good rejection. I know the story isn't for everyone and it's going to take a certain agent with a certain level of chutzpah to say "Yeah, I'd like to shop this around to publishers." More than WS would take, I know.

What else I take from the letter (and maybe I'm reading into it) is that it's the story he didn't dig, not the writing. Thing is, as an editor you can help fix up bad writing. You can't really change the story and if you don't like it, there's not much that can be done to remedy that.

But I was waiting to hear from this guy b/c I sent out this ms (land mail) on the same day I got the "yeah send me a full via e-mail" from Dream Agent. So I'm hoping that's a sign that I'll hear from DA sooner rather than later. He never responded to my nudge but I'll give him until March before I nudge him again.

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Wish me luck

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:21:15 -0400

I got a request for a full from my #1 choice of agent.

*deep breath*

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Queries sent: 3; Rejections: 1

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:35:10 -0400

Of course it stings a little but it's most definitely not the end of the world. WS spoiled me. The first query I sent asked for a full; the second they wanted a partial. Maybe it's worse to be rejected on the work than the query. It was also a form letter. So it goes.

But hey, nothing to lose. No time wasted and one agency to be crossed off the list. I didn't expect to get picked up by the one that's already responded. They say they want lit fic but their site was full of chick lit. I figured it was worth a shot anyway since maybe they were looking & just didn't have anything yet (or sold yet). It was a beautifully-worded and encouraging rejection though. The only other form rejection I got was cold & had a note scribbled on "20k too long," so I got something useful out of it.

If I could change one thing about the rejection it wouldn't be that it is a rejection but that there'd be a note like that. Not for us. Not my style. No lit fic kthxbai. Hate your name. Hate your font. Badly-written synopsis. Whatever.

Back to editing...

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Like I haven't posted enough here in a single day

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 23:54:36 -0400

Upon trying to remember if Emma was one of my readers, she replied that she was and added:

"My father was a truck driver when I was a kid. I don't think I will ever forget the beginning of your book. LOL"

This is hilarious. Trust me.

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Back on the writing wagon

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:26:30 -0400

... which is slightly different from the welcome wagon.

I've been working on a short story and it's been like trudging through thick pudding to get from one line to the next. I'm pretty sure it sucks but I'm going to write through to the end and let a friend tell me whether it sucks or not and how much.

More importantly, I've been querying! I sent three e-queries this afternoon and printed one. For the printed one, I need to include my first three chapters. So I'm taking a break from the computer (after I write this) and I'm going to sit & edit tonight. I thought my edits had taken but apparently not. I may have done them in Word instead of Open Office or something and just printed the wrong version when I went to print a copy not long ago. In any case, I needs to be editin'.

Maybe I'm too picky about querying. Maybe I should just blanket the entire literary agent marketplace with my query. I don't. I've been using Agent Query. I do a search for "literary fiction" and "accepting queries" and I go from there. I read the agent profiles. I go to their websites, when available, and I read what they're looking for and what they've sold. And if it sounds good, I write up the query and I say why I think it sounds like a good match. And I send it. And maybe it'll work.

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Back again

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:02:32 -0400

For the first time really since my previous post, I've been able to sit down and get back on track about selling RFM. I began writing my query letter with the help of AgentQuery. I managed to make a one-sentence hook. It feels run-on to me but that might be b/c RFM is full of short, choppy sentences. Let me know what you think:

In January 1992, Seth hitchhikes to State College, Pennsylvania where he blends in with the student population, audits a poetry-writing seminar and discovers that the work, plus the personal connections he creates, can help him confront his traumatic past, stop the destructive cycle he’s been on in the three years since he’s been running and look toward to the future for the first time in his life.

That was also w/ the help of Theryn's summary when she read it.

I tried the "era/location" approach, since it's set about 15 yrs ago.

So okay, I boiled the story down into a single sentence. Now I think the 2nd pp, the synopsis, is more of a "here's what happens in what order" type of thing. Once I get that written, I'll add it to this post.

Later that afternoon...

Using the Coal Run book jacket as a template, I have my one-pp synopsis started. Why Coal Run? B/c it's my current read and when I went to rock H to sleep, I picked it up and half-memorized it for this purpose.

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What it's about

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:04:47 -0500

I've spent a couple of days thinking about my most recent entries. I'm nothing if not introspective. One of my mantras is "it's never about what it's about." So I've been thinking: "what is really my problem w/ Hawk's lack of fb?" and I think I've figured it out.

My problem is that I want to talk about the book w/ someone. I want to answer questions, explain my ideas, all that yummy stuff and w/ WS I could talk about it with him. He talked about it long after he read it. He asked me questions about characters and settings and such. He hasn't asked anything about RFM and I think that may be my problem: I don't have anyone to talk to.

I could bug Erin and Fredlet but I've already bugged them enough (whereas it's Hawk's husbandly duty to let me bug him). Maybe it's just that I crave adult face-to-face conversations and it's something we've both read and could talk about. I don't remember the last time that happened.

It could also be that I feel like he doesn't care about the book and I'm transferring that into "he doesn't care about what I care about" and therefore "he doesn't care period."

So I don't think it's so much about RFM as it is other personal issues on my end. I still don't get how he found the sex scenes a turn-on and I don't get why he's arguing with me about whether the PSU hockey game on March 14, 1992 was an away game and which side of College Avenue the instrument store was on. Next time, I'm doing a thoroughly self-invented setting, like in WS. So anyway, it's probably not about what it's about.

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And another thing...

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:54:52 -0500

Yeah I already wrote an entry today. But apparently I have more to say.

I just finished reading/editing the diner sex scene. Actually, I'm past that scene itself. I talked earlier w/ Erin about how, with the exception of maybe the last two of them, I don't find the sex scenes very sexy at all. I think they're kind of sad. Clinically they're probably pretty sexy... anyway, Erin said, "Well, of course they were (sad) and frequently disturbing."

When I was reading this scene, I was in H's room kind of hanging out while he went down for a nap. He's still awake in there but Z came up to find me and if he'd seen her, all hope would hev been lost. Anyway, I came down here and got a drink and stuff & I just felt very sad for Seth (a residual reaction from my reading). My heart broke for him and this was after the "successful" sex. That last thing I would want right now (well one of the last things) would be to play out that scene or anything remotely like it IRL. What I wrote worked for me in the way I want it to work for others. Apparently it worked the same way for Erin.

I guess what it all comes down to is: is my Ideal Reader really my ideal reader? I don't think so. I think the most I can expect is to entertain him. My Ideal Readers are the ones who get it w/o me having to explain every little thing.

Oh and I asked him why he won't read WS. He says, "I'll read it. I thought you wanted me to read the other one first." I said that I did. He said, "I just didn't want to read it last night." I said, "I didn't even say anything last night. Every time I mention it, you say you won't read it." Then there was a prolonged sigh and "I guess I'll read it." Gee. Thanks.

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