Thursday, July 29, 2010

A Little Secret

So today I got two more "Nah, I don't want to fall in love with you" emails from agents, which is always heartbreaking. For starters, I'm the type of person that wants to know everything that went unsaid when I get the automated response of "I have decided that I might not be the right agent for your work". I want to write back in the biggest possible font, WHY??? If I'm to better myself as a writer I need to know what I'm doing that doesn't snag your interest. It frustrates me to no end. It's like when a guy dumps you and says "It's not you, it's me." That's doesn't help me at all. That just leaves me with a head full of question marks.
The thing that confuses me even more is that Robby, my beloved Robby, read Loving Maribel last week and wrote me the best email I have ever received. EVER. I'm not exagerating. I'd paste it into here but I like having it to myself. In a nutshell, he read my manuscript, he loved it, and how he felt about it as a book and about me as an author puts a smile on my face everytime I read it. It was an amazing feeling to have someone from my ideal audience fall in love with the characters and the story and freak out when momentous events unfolded. And so when he said not to change anything (except maybe my grammatical errors - someday I'll learn the proper use of punctuation) I want to print out a copy of the email, race down to New York and face each agent who's said no and say, "See this right here? This is why you should be begging to represent me!" Of course I will never do that, but a girl can fantasize.
But it has me thinking. Maybe my approach is all wrong. Maybe my query letter doesn't do Loving Maribel justice. Maybe I'm not giving agents the right tools to fall in love with me. So I'm thinking maybe I should divulge my secret, the truth about the real writer of Summer At Nineteen and Loving Maribel.
So here's the truth...



Her name is Bug. She is four years old and is the brains behind this operation. And sometimes she lets me use the computer. Like right now, for example.

Robby tells me that no matter what happens I have to never stop querying Loving Maribel. I stubbornly say with a stamping foot that I promise never to give up. But I've got to tell you, the no's are starting to add up. It makes me sad with every no I add to my pile.

But then again, I only need one to say yes and then the no's won't matter in the slightest...

xoxo
Stephanie
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1 comment

  1. KEEP QUERYING LOVING MARIBEL. And, in the worst possible situation, move on and query the next one. If you find representation for the next novel, then forward LM to the agent and maybe you'll be able to sell BOTH! I love you, Stephanie. You are so talented and gifted and fabulous (and I'm not only saying these things because of the shout out.)
    KEEP GOING.

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