It?s Monday after Thanksgiving and here I am, back at it. My granddaughter is at school and I?m chiseling out another weekly blog. Then I?ll diligently send more queries out to agents, or maybe take a nap since I?m sporting a head cold.
The hardest part of being an author is the waiting. Waiting is even worse than getting ?no?s.? Well, maybe that?s stretching things a bit. Since the first of October I have sent out fifty-four queries. I?ve received seventeen ?no?s? and had one request to read the entire manuscript. Of course all the ?no thank you? notes were form letters or emails, all except one. Last week I opened my SASE and was pleased to find a three-paragraph rejection letter.
In the letter, agent Jan said she hoped I was doing well and thanked me for the opportunity to consider ?The Color of My Heart.? She noted my material had a promising book concept that focused on the exploration and celebration of mind, body and spirit. But sadly, because of the intense competition in the current literary market, we as agents are forced to be highly selective and must pass up projects that we believe in.
Yes, a no, is a no. But, sometimes if you read between the lines you see a spark of interest that may have lit up an agent?s eye. I really appreciate the encouragement this agent brought to me. She even signed the letter with a big ole ?J.?
The publishing world is buried in manuscripts like mine that may be pretty good, but how do agents and publishers choose one out of a million? Here are two suggestions I have for struggling authors: Write a magnificent story. Fill it with parts of your heart and soul. Create a magical scene and believable characters. And, when you have finished, the second thing you need to do is find yourself a good editor.
Recently an old acquaintance bought a copy of ?Guardian Spirit.? He told me he also had written a book and asked if I would read it. Of course I agreed. The story line is futuristic and way out of my usual genre of reading but it did capture my attention. What turned me off about the work was the fact that it was single-spaced with run-on paragraphs and there were so many grammatical errors and missed spelled words that after reading it I felt pretty good about my own writing skills.
This made me really think. What does an agent or publishing house see when they open my queries and read the words I have written? Are they turned off right away after noticing I have made an error in spelling or punctuation? Yes, I think they are. I admit I am not an English major and I cringe when I think about my first manuscript and what my editor, Jo Martin thought when she tried to unscramble all my scribbling.
After three novels and six years of working together Jo has taught me so much. She doesn?t just fix all my spelling and grammatical errors. She helps me look at my characters and develop them into more believable people. Jo points out when I am telling, and not showing their actions. Sometimes she basically says this part or that just doesn?t work. Honesty may hurt for a minute but in the long run it pays off.
When I gave Jo my last manuscript I thought she was going to be so proud of me. I understood more of when and where to put quotes. I thought I had nipped my ?run on sentences? in the bud, and all she would have to do would be clean it up a bit. Not! I have to admit there wasn?t as many penciled in corrections as on my previous manuscripts but there was still plenty.
So, in saying all of this my advice to all who are sending their work out into the world is to follow this formula: Author ? Editor ? Agent or Publisher. And when you see an error in my work simply know that my editor doesn?t edit my blogs. Thank you Jo, for putting up with all my present tense, past tense errors and the many other things I mess up. I couldn?t do this without you. Thank goodness for spell check and patient editors.
