Full disclosure: I keep an eye out for new emails as I work on my computer.
I know.
I shouldn't.
It can be distracting.
It's part of the technology addiction syndrome.
As I was working on a presentation, I noticed the number in parentheses in my gmail tab went up a couple of ticks. I figured it would probably be a notification or a slicing related question. There are a lot of those these days.
It wasn't.
It was an agent.
Who I queried on February 1.
Who wanted my full manuscript.
Yes!!!
(Backstory: I've written two novels, and I've been querying them, and mostly I hear nothing or I receive polite no thank yous.)
I googled her, trying to remember her agency and why I thought she'd be a good person to send my sample pages to, and something about her agency sounded familiar. Another one of the agents' names was familiar.
(Backstory: It's uncool to query two agents from the same company.)
And then I remembered. One of her colleagues hadn't been interested in my other novel, but had written such a personal rejection letter (usually the rejections are pretty standard) that I asked her if she'd be interested in taking a look at my other manuscript. She said yes. She liked my style and she'd like to see the other one. Generally, I'm pretty careful about keeping my color-coded spreadsheet of submissions and responses. This one slipped through my accounting cracks since it happened in such a different sort of way.
So, isn't that my luck? I finally get a nibble, and I have to say, I'm sorry, I messed up. The good news is someone's already asked for that full manuscript. The bad news is she's one of your colleagues.
We had a very nice exchange. Maybe her colleague will reject it. Maybe one of them will love it and want to represent me and will work with me to help make it perfect and sell it to a publishing company and make one of my life dreams come true...
Beyond the mountains, there are mountains. For now, I'll just keep that walking stick nearby and those hiking boots handy.
Happy Slicing,
Congratulations. As a new slicer, I am so inspired by folks like you who have followed your writing dreams. I'll watch for your name on bookshelves in the future!
ReplyDeleteHow exciting, encouraging, validating (I could go on!) to have multiple people interested in your manuscript! Regardless of what happens, the fact that you have two complete manuscripts is a huge accomplishment in and of itself! Go, Melanie! You're well on your way on the path to your life dream.
ReplyDeleteLove the backstories. And this line applicable to so much, beyond the mountains are mountains. That’s why we keep our eyes on the horizon.
ReplyDeleteThat is so exciting -- fingers and toes crossed for you! Sounds like a race to see who you hear from first on many levels!!! Keep us posted.
ReplyDeleteClare
Love the metaphor at the end, Melanie. How exciting for you! Fingers crossed that the next letter will not be rejection. Thanks for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteWow! Congratulations! How exciting for you and also very brave! I guess this was one time that being addicted to checking your email (I am exactly the same way) paid off! Here's to hoping your dream comes true! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDelete