Two of the Worst Things That Could Happen Just Happened

Thing 1:
I received a very kind, but deadly letter from an agent. He had read the first two chapters and told me that he couldn’t connect with the concept and wasn’t interested in representing me. Standard. I’m used to this by now. But he continued with “A little friendly advice. My girlfriend, who is a novelist (she has a different agent—that would be weird), had a novel like this. After battling with it for a couple years, she moved on to a new idea, even thought it hurt to leave the old book behind. That new idea became her first published novel. I suggest you do the same.”

Was the story that I had worked over five years to create substandard and doomed to failure?

When in doubt run screaming to your editor. I took Jessica out to lunch and had her read the letter. She skimmed it, set it aside and got down to business. The story is fine, she said, but the first chapter is a problem. It needs to be rewritten.

No, I didn’t start screaming, we were in a restaurant and I had to act like an adult.

She gave me a good idea about just how to do the rewrite. I’ve been playing with it for the past few days and I think it’s going to work.

She also strongly suggested that I:
 Publish my blog more frequently. Nothing big, just quick takes on Tarot and writing.
 Go to the young adult section of several bookstores and look at the books that are like mine—i.e. fantasy. The author usually credits his/her agent in the acknowledgements. Copy down the agent’s name, look them up on the internet, and send a query letter. I went to Powell’s Books today and spent a very instructive two hours looking at blurbs and copying down agent’s names. The books are shelved alphabetically by author’s name. I got to Cabot.
 Send out query letters in waves of 5 and 10. She suggested that I paste in the first few pages of the manuscript immediately following a query letter sent via e-mail. (after I get them revised, of course)
 Begin researching e-books, and looking for a marketer.
 Come to Summer in Words, 2011, June 24-26. This is a writers conference she’s organizing at Cannon Beach. It’s an opportunity to network, take workshops from some well-known Northwest writers, and get recharged. It will strain the finances a bit, but I’m going.

Stay tuned for Thing 2.