They liked it. They really liked it!

Two agents have weighed in on my book. Agent #1, on whose critique of the first 75 pages I bid at a charity auction, said, This delivers. You have quirky characters, and people up to no good. I love the humor in the book; you’re very funny.

Here's the but. When I asked if she'd be interested in representing it, she said it wasn't her kind of book; she tends more towards family dramas. But - she did ask me to send her the rest of the manuscript, which she looked forward to reading.

And in even better news....I asked the agent who'd requested the full manuscript a few months ago for a status report. And she said,
We have been considering your manuscript, which we think is very good, but needs some revisions before we'd be able to take it on. We thought that ANIMAL CRACKER was very funny, well-paced, and irreverent. The heroine is brash and relatable, which makes what could be conventional chick lit feel fresh and engaging. We did think, though, that the second half of the book could use some work...the resolution, even for such a lighthearted work, came too easily. We'd love to see a revision that addresses these ideas.

I shall revise away.

Imagination

I should call this The Lazy Blogger. Or maybe the blogger-without-anything-to-say.

The truth is I'm putting most of my creative energies into, what else, the rewrite. After doubts of self and book doctor, I'm cutting, pasting, and creating new scenes (one quite brilliant one suggested by book m.d.) and guess what! It's getting better all the time.

I should be finished in a couple of weeks. Amy, book doctor, is in Russia at the moment, and had told me she could review the rewrite in either early June or September. Guess which is my favorite month.

I am considering sending it out to one particular agent I've been eyeing even if Amy hasn't read it. Have I mentioned that I'm impatient, impetuous, impolitic and, yeah, immature? This agent says on his website that he has a soft spot for stories featuring animals. And the name of my book is...Animal Cracker! Yes, little critters figure prominently.

He will receive my query and sample pages. He will say, "Damn, she's good." He will email me immediately to request the full manuscript. He will call me a week later and ask me to come to New York to review our contract. He tells me he will begin submitting it to publishers immediately. He will contact me the following week with a two-word email: Bidding War! He will call me back with a $ number that will clear all my debts and then some. He will tell me that negotiations have begun on movie rights.

All of this will occur before August 1.

2010.

Now you know why I don't sleep very well.