After doing a final check, I’ve emailed my manuscript to my agent. Now we wait. She'll read it again and let me know if she thinks it's ready to present to publishers. ( I thought it was ready before I took out 19000 words - thats why it's good to have an agent) In the meantime, when Kiama HS doesn't want me, I’ll be on the web reading book reviews and finding other authors like myself. I’d like to support others if their work is good. I might have to do some house work too – uggh. Anyone got any other suggestions? … [Read more...]
A nice surprise
I was just going back to some blogs I'd been to, ones that I'd bookmarked for one reason or another and I got a great boost when I came across a post about 'Lethal Inheritance' on 'Caught Between the Pages' ( there's a link there on my side bar). Kayla read ch 1 and liked it and is passing on the word via her blog. That's the way we help each other. Thanks Kayla, my heart did a happy little dance. … [Read more...]
Step one achieved
There it is. The email I’ve been waiting for for nearly two weeks. The one I stopped checking my emails for. Why? Because, so long as I don’t know what the answer is, a positive outcome is still a possibility. Does the agent like my novel? Take a deep breath, drop the hope – fear slides away with it – and click. I leap off my seat and spin around. I laugh and jump up and down. I really do. Then I text daughter Kimberley and husband Chris. Hubby sends a message back – whoopy do, bananas and cream! That’s an in joke for those who’ve read the ms ( manuscript in publishing world speak). Kimberley sends lots of WOWs and other Neanderthal syllables that mean roughly the same thing. Here’s the cause of the excitement. I have read the ms and think it could be for me. It was hard to put down! Please note that it is a very crowded and difficult market and it is hard to get publishers to read manuscripts in a timely manner. I'd like to talk to you about the ms and how we should … [Read more...]
The Waiting Game
I hate the moment before I open an email from a prospective agent. Hope and fear come together, churning my stomach, so I try to have no expectations; that way I’ll have no disappointments. At least that’s the theory. I do hope though and I do fear. I want to be published. I want people to enjoy my characters and their story as much as I do. At least I don’t get stuck in the hope or incapacitated by the fear. I tell myself that what will be, will be. The story of the search so far… In July and August 2009, I sent submissions to the six Australian agents that were accepting them at the time. After a period of time that ranged from one to six weeks, all of them rejected me. I wasn’t surprised. I’d done my research and knew that it was almost impossible for new writers to get agents before they had had something published. Nevertheless, I had hoped that someone would want to represent me. The next step was to try Australian publishers. Once again, I rewrote my short blurb (the one … [Read more...]
