All I Want for Christmas...

is an Offer of Representation.

This round of queries is very uneventful.  Agent responses are slowing down, drastically.  For the first round of queries, I chose agents with very quick response times, and saved the slower folks for last.  Yeah, that might be totally backward, but that's how I did it.  Sue me. {lol }

Two thousand thirteen has been a LONG year for me in terms of writing.  I began the year querying agents, as usual, and attempting to write more and more picture books.  Also, I finally broke down and got a library card to take advantage of freebies.  This allowed me to do a lot of picture books studying, and I quickly learned how different the picture book market is compared to when I was small.

These days, picture books are much more bold.  I see PBs featuring monsters (I guess all the parents got together and decided it was okay to admit to monsters being real), zombies, and other freaky story lines that parents would NOT have allowed back in my youth.  But, we live in a changing world, and that's just how it is.

Although it is always disappointing to get a form rejection (that's the only rejections I have received), I will keep pushing.  I'll keep writing, reading, and finally one day I'll make it there.

More Rejections

What does it mean when an agent rejects your work and says, "We cannot offer to see more of your work?"

Does it mean they do not like your writing style?

Of all the rejections I have ever received, this one particular agent is the only one that uses the impersonal "Dear Author" greeting.  Then, I get the part about not wanting to see more of my work.  Ugh.

Rejections for Almost 365 Days

It's been almost one year since I received my first manuscript rejection and I'm still hanging in there... or, err... here.

Last year, I wrote my first real manuscript.  By real I mean the first story I ever worked hard on, edited to death, researched and submitted with hopes of seeing it in ink.  Though, I hope everything I write will eventually be in ink.

Here I am, almost a year later, with many rejections under my belt.  You know, something I often here is, "Such-and-such was rejected 10 times before they got a book deal."

Really?  Just 10?  Ten is nothing!  If you tell me your story got rejected less than 20 times, to me that is the equivalent of zero rejections.  I'm pushing 50 total rejections on multiple stories.  But, enough of the bragging.  Back to writing...

Back to the Waiting Game, Eh?

On September 29 I queried one picture book agent in particular.  It was the first query with a new picture book that has been in the works for over 6 months.  I still haven't heard from the agent, and he's one that responds to all queries, too.  Today makes two weeks, so I decided to go ahead and query a few more agents.  I queried four more, all of which have the record for responding quickly.  Who doesn't love speedy responses?  Also, my "dream agent" is closed to queries until November 1.  That particular agency quotes a 6-8 week response time, but when I previously queried them it took 3 months to get a response.  Whew!  I guess their mailbox really is overflowing.

How's your WIP coming along?

Starting Up With Queries Again

Ten minutes ago, I submitted another PB query to an agent.

I chose this agent because he represents children's picture books (duh!), and last time I queried him he replied within nine days.  I was quite happy with that response time, plus he gave me a tad more feedback than the typical form rejection letter that most people receive.

I chose to only query this one to see if he provides different feedback, or any insight.  Why?  Because this time I queried a book that features inanimate objects as the main characters.  So, if I'm way out of my league here, I hope he'll tell me, and maybe I can work on the revamp of the query.  Not a revamp of the story.  I really like the story, but sometimes it's all in the way you present it.  Or, I'm just crazy.

I remember starting this blog early this year, setting a goal for myself, then getting totally burned out on obsessing over the queries.  No more.  It'll either happen, or it won't, but either way, I'm keeping my sanity.  But I reeeeaalllyy hope I get an agent soon :)

On Track with Queries

It looks as though I've changed my mind... again.

In a previous post, I mentioned only querying publishers.  Well, the problem is that MANY picture book publishers will only accept queries from agents.  So, for a better chance of getting published, it looks like I HAVE to query agents first.

So, here's the new game plan:  I am going to query EVERY agent I have ever queried before.  This is about 35 agents.  If I give all of them time to respond, that will mean I must wait until early December to query publishers.  That's exactly what I am going to do.  You know, my 2013 goal was to get an agent, and I must remain hopeful it will happen before January 1, 2014.  But, there's nothing wrong with getting an agent next year either :)

I'll be honest, though.  I really don't want to query agents, and it's because agents are only one step of two very important steps (those steps being 1) get an agents attention and 2) get a publisher to agree to publish it).  But, whatever, I guess I need to just be patient and get in line like every other person who queries agents.

Before I query, I am going to make a promise to myself.

I PROMISE that when I begin querying agents, I will only check my e-mail twice a day.
I PROMISE not to lose sleep over wondering if an agent is going to contact me or not.

Two promises should cover it.

Is anyone else out there as fickle as me?

Do you believe in signs?

Earlier today I sat down to create a spreadsheet of the publishers I plan to query.  As I was creating the spreadsheet, my computer went black.  My first thought:  "Is this a sign that I am not ready to submit this story?  Should I wait?"

I shouldn't jump to conclusions, though, because my computer does this from time to time.  Plus, today when I tried to do a Java update, some weird thing was installed on my computer, which I believe is causing the problem.

ANYWAY... is this silly for me to believe in signs?  Do you have thoughts like that too when important work is interrupted?