I HAVE AN AGENT!!!!

This story is a year in the making. I queried The Sheldon Fogelman Agency back in June 2011, sending along three chapters. The request for the full came in July. At the time I had a few other fulls and partials out and was happy to add one more to the list!

In the meantime I began writing another book. I continued to check the forums for any information on all the agents who currently had my work—you know, just in case there was a scathing update about them that turned me off. All the while I wrote and bit my nails to the quick!

Well, a few rejections came in. *Bummer* But my new philosophy was, all those who rejected me just made room for my agent to come.

After about two months, I knew I hadn’t heard from a few agencies, namely The Sheldon Fogelman Agency. I waited another few weeks and then sent out emails for status updates. Only one agency got back to me.

Three guesses which one.

That scored them major points with me, because not only did they get back to me, but they got RIGHT back to me—within a few hours. The submissions coordinator, Amy—who is now an assistant agent—assured me that I had not been forgotten and had apologized for the long wait. Um…I could totally be patient, cuz what was the alternative? Telling them that I wouldn’t wait for them to consider my work? Yeah, cuz I just went crazy, right?

Over the next five months I sent two more status emails. Both emails were responded to quickly and both gave me a bit more hope as they said things like, “The fact that we haven’t made a decision about your manuscript is a good sign.” Apparently, my manuscript received a very positive first read and needed to be read by the rest of the staff. Once I knew that, I was content to wait…well, content-ish.

Then one day in April I got an email from Janine Hauber saying she managed foreign rights at The Sheldon Fogelman Agency and was now taking on her own clients. She was very interested in working with me if Platinum Diaries was still available.

Hell yeah it is! ‘Course, I didn’t write that, but I was screaming it—in my head since I was standing in line buying some much needed summer clothes-lol.

Long story, short—I know, too late, right?—she asked for revisions and sent me the most wonderful email with her views on what worked and what didn’t. That email seemed to awaken all these ideas and thoughts I hadn’t even known I had about my manuscript. That has to be the most awesome thing about having an agent. She loves my story and can guide me in the right direction.

We actually had two phone calls. The first, I knew she wasn’t going to offer, because they are a very collaborative agency—which is something else I love—and she needed to talk with me first. You know, make sure I’m not crazy, or in my case, have my crazy well contained-lol.

We had a great conversation. She answered a lot of my questions and I answered hers. Then, she took the revisions I made and passed them on to her colleagues. After they read it, an editorial meeting was set to review Platinum Diaries as well as the manuscript I’d been working on in the meantime. While this was going on, I went on a 10-day cruise-lol. I came back from vacation on September 9^th. Took the 10^th to decompress and emailed Janine on the 11^th. As luck would have it they were having the editorial meeting about my work that day!

She called me at 5pm that night and offered to rep me!!! I tried not to scream my acceptance, but I’m not sure I succeeded.

It was a long wait, but I think it was meant to be. And it really didn’t feel like a year, not when I kept writing and living and doing all the other things we writers do to distract ourselves. I’m just really happy with Janine. It’s a wonderful feeling to talk with someone who is excited about your work and gets your characters.

So there you have it, my “how I got my agent” story.

When to Disregard a Comment

As I’ve been working with critique partners for the past few months, the one thing that’s always come up is when to heed or ignore a comment given about your work. Luckily, with this last project, I haven’t had many comments that I disagreed with. However, in the past I’ve had some feedback that nearly blew me off my feet.

From rude, to ignorant, to right out of left field—like they’d been reading someone else’s book and confused it with mine. These types of comments are easy to flush away, even though they often stick with you.

It’s the ones that are kind and thoughtful and full of respect for your work that make you bite your nails to the quick trying to decide if you should follow it or disregard.

I recently had a comment that had all the makings of a stress induced ulcer, but somehow it didn’t:

My wonderful crit partner, Abby suggested that I delete an entire chapter! What?! Oh no she di’nt! LOL. Now, being on both ends of that type of suggestion, having given similar advice to a crit partner of mine and having been given that advice by Abby, I know she did not offer that advice lightly. To be honest, I only read the first line of her long comment—which went something like this: Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t think this chapter is needed.

I stopped reading there. Not because I was angry or heartbroken that she didn’t love every last inch of my novel. I stopped to think. I ran through that chapter in my mind and although there were some sweet moments with the male lead and his mother, the chapter didn’t add much to the story. Not only that, but it took away tension from the female lead and from the big reveal at the end. It took about 30 seconds to realize the chapter needed to go. I went back and read Abby’s full comment and her insight made it all the more clear that the chapter should go. I don’t regret cutting it.

I know that isn’t always the way it goes with comments given about your work. Some people are WAY off the mark. Sometimes you just can’t or don’t want to see the flaws being pointed out to you. And sometimes, you just have to go with your gut.

How do you all do it? Are you a gutster, letting that gut reaction to suggestions be your guide on whether you yay or nay it? Do you gather up other opinions and then let the majority rule? Or do you take all suggestions thrown at you like a giant magnet? :-)

Sorry for the Long Absence

Hi all,


I’ve been away for so long I’m almost ashamed to show my face, or rather, my words, around here. Please forgive my absence. I can’t even blame it on any one particular thing. Not only did I abandon my blog posts, but I stopped reading other’s as well. The only thing I can say is for a long few months I did no writing at all. I was tired. Which I now see was probably some sort of mild depression behind my health and other minor things.

But I’m back now! I’m feeling great and I’ve been writing steadily for the last couple of months. I’m not going to promise that I’ll post once a week, but I’m going to give it a try. I just wanted to drop in and say, “Hey!” to everyone. Hope the winter treated you all well.

Be My Nook Friend...

I can't believe I've become one of those people...you know, the electronic book people. I was determinded never get one as I love my paper books so much. But, I got a Nook for Christmas...and I think I love it. Please don't tell my books. I haven't broken it to them yet.

Now I'm looking for Nook Friends to share books with. Every year it's my goal to read 100 books. I know this may seem like small potatoes for some people who read/skim books with the spead of light, but it takes me time to read, especially when I'm really enjoying a novel. I know I'm backward. Still, for the past few years I've fallen short of my 100 goal, ending at about 75. Now that I have my Nook, I hope to see what others are reading and that way I can add to my list. Maybe this time I'll meet my goal of 100 books read in 2012!

If you have a Nook and want to be my friend, send me an email, or leave your email in the comments and friend you!

2011 IN REVIEW

• February 3rd slipped on ice and dislocated my right shoulder, resulting in a broken bone. Ouch!
• March 8th had surgery to remove bone shard and repair damage.
• May 7th went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Beyond Awesome!
• July 7th three requests for my full manuscript!
• July 15th the final Harry Potter movie came out and I went to my fist midnight viewing! I’m sorry that I waited until the last one to do it. There is such a nerd-energy that I love. Thank you J. K. Rowling for giving me something to be super nerdy about.
• July 23rd went to New York to see Daniel Radcliff in How to Succeed in Business Without Trying. Was part of the crowd who sang happy birthday to Dan. The musical was FANTASTIC. I wonder if there is anything he can’t do once he sets his mind to it.
• August 3rd turned 39. I’m blessed to have 39 years in this world and be comfortable with who I am. No complaints!
• August 23rd the East Coast Earthquake. Nothing more to say about that. LOL
• August 27th-28th suffered zero damage from Hurricane Irene. Thank you God!
• November 7th test results from endometrial biopsy came back negative!
• December 9th pathology results from D&C came back negative.
• December 21st my sister came to town for Christmas.
• December 23rd head to Delaware to spend the holidays with family.
• December 28th bought a new car! 2012 Hyundai Sonata. I love it!
• December 31st had a very restful New Year’s Eve.

While I have some goals that were not achieved during the year of 2011, namely, weight loss and obtaining an agent (I’m still waiting to hear back from two of those agents who requested from me in July), I think my year has been very good. The days between each of the listed dates were days filled with writing, reading, laughter and love. I don’t have one complaint. Hope all of you had a full and wonderful 2011 and may 2012 be even better!

There’s a Thin Line Between Literary Genius and Crap

As my current work in progress nears the end, I have moments where I say to myself, “I can’t believe I wrote this. It’s the most amazing story I’ve ever written. It’s emotional, philosophical, scientific and funny.”

And then there are times when I say, “I can’t believe I wrote this! It’s whiney, pretentious, inconceivable and no one is going to get my jokes.” In other words it’s crap.

The problem with writing something you think is brilliant is at some point your bubble will get burst. I love this story I’m creating right now. I love the characters, the world and definitely the dialogue, but I guess it has to happen to authors at some point.

We are too close to the work and then doubts start to creep in. The only way I know how to handle this is to keep writing. If it turns out it’s crap, you can believe someone WILL tell me. It’s just that I recently noticed that I’d written a chapter without thinking much about it. It came from an emotional place and when I read it back, I thought, this is fan-freakin-tastic!

But then a few days later, I lay in bed thinking about that chapter and started to second guessing myself. Is it too emotional? Too preachy? Am I full of crap and therefore my writing must be full of crap too? Inquiring minds want to know, people! LOL.

I can’t be alone in this. Please tell me I’m not. At some point do you think you’ve written the next new classic novel? They will make movies, a theme park and everybody will want to be your characters. And then you think this is utter garbage and is probably not good enough to line a bird cage?

Tell me I’m not alone.

A Bit of Downtime

With all the writing, reading and online shopping I have no time for blogging. Well, the truth is, I've sufficiently fried my brain so I'll be taking a small break.

Carry on!