Sinking In

Posted by Jen on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 @ 10:45 pm

This whole I-finally-have-an-agent thing is starting to sink in, and let me tell you, it feels great. I think I’ve been permanently in the goofy zone all day.

See for yourself:

Yes, I took a picture of myself jumping for joy.

To tell you the truth, I was starting to get pretty down about the whole querying thing. Sure, I was getting requests, but I was also getting rejections. I got full rejections, too, and those hurt. It made me think it just wasn’t going to happen. That while I loved my story, something must be terribly flawed with it and no one would want to risk taking it on. I mean, it must, right? To get full rejections? No, not necessarily. Representing a book is a pretty huge deal, and you not only have to love it but you have to feel confident you can sell it. And an agent can feel they can’t sell it for a variety of subjective reasons like the market, their contacts and the style or subject matter the book has.

Sometimes I thought about quitting or just giving up on the book. Sometimes I told myself I was going to, but I just kept going back to it. And even now, it may not sell. I know that. But it never will if I don’t try.

I’ll tell you what though. I’m starting to feel some serious relief about not having to write any more query letters.

So anyway, in the midst of my exuberant happiness, I’ve been thinking about both Clash and TG2. I’ve been seriously struggling with Clash, and now I’m back to thinking it should be a three book series rather than a single book with three parts. There’s just so much story there, and I think it would be better not to try cramming it all into one. That being said, the whole first 15k words needs to be edited with additional scenes put in. Also, TG2 sure is calling my name. I’m seriously considering putting Clash on the shelf for now so I can focus on the sequel of TG. Of course, pretty soon I’ll be focused on revisions so both will have to be put on hold during that process.

Anyone have any good news to share? How’s everyone else’s WIPs coming along? Anyone going to sign up for NaNo this year?

Comments

By Dan on October 9th, 2008 at 8:39 am

Well, you already have my vote for TG2.

And keep taking those goofy pictures…they’re awesome!

By Tia on October 9th, 2008 at 8:51 am

I am eager to query Starcaster. I got awesome reactions from my beta readers and I’m just so pumped up. The danger now is that I will query too soon, before the manuscript is as perfect as I can make it. Must chill. Must relax.

By Christopher on October 9th, 2008 at 10:55 am

Hey Jen,

I came across your blog when researching for agents myself. I’ve spent the last thee days in front of my computer going through the 2009 Writer’s Market and trying to come up with persuasive query letters.

Good for you. Way to go! It’s encouraging to see someone jumping for joy.

By B.E. Sanderson on October 9th, 2008 at 1:21 pm

No news here. The new WIP is coming along, and could possibly work out to be in a series with the one you read. We’ll see how that plays out. I don’t really do NaNo, but it was during NaNo a couple years ago that I sat down and cranked out the majority of my third book.

Jump around, Lady. You have every right to be ecstatic about getting an agent. When I finally get the call, I plan on a lot of jumping around, too. =o)

By cindy on October 9th, 2008 at 6:13 pm

querying hell is so so hard. you really were tenacious
and i couldn’t be more thrilled for you! YAY JEN! love the
jumping foto, too. that room is so nyc. =)

i’m starting on my sequel in a few weeks. that’s good news–but scary, too!!