Yay!

I just re-queried an agent who'd requested the full manuscript a couple of years ago, and who'd asked me to keep her in mind if I did any rewriting. Yesterday, the good old US Postal Service brought this: We greatly enjoyed the first 50 pages of your manuscript and are hoping to read more. Please send the full manuscript.

And guess what! The rest of the book is much stronger than the first fifty pages. I think. I don't even mind the two rejections I also received yesterday.

Off to the post office!

Oh No

Back from a relaxing and rejuvenating two weeks in Spain, one as a volunteer in an English immersion program for Spaniards, the second getting lost in scary mountain passes, drinking lots of Mallorcan sparkling wine and reveling in the warmth of the Mediterranean.

Before I left, I'd queried my dream agent on the book. He replied three hours later - on a Sunday no less - that it wasn't "up his alley" but would forward it on to his "fabulous" colleague. Disappointing, but at least he didn't reject me outright. Agents aren't in the niceness business; if he'd hated it he'd just have passed. Right?

Guess I'm not fabulous enough, since she never contacted me. So...back to the grind of sending out queries to brand new agents. Four today.

Maybe I need a new medium. Lots of ideas brewing for screenplay. Will think about it tomorrow.

Adios

I received a response from my perfect agent a mere THREE HOURS after my submission. And my perfect agent said 'this doesn't seem quite up my alley, so I've forwarded it to my fabulous colleague X. I'm sure you'll hear shortly from her if this is something she wants to pursue.'

Eleven days later, email box is empty. Fabulous colleague is on vacation. Fabulous colleague is swamped. Fabulous colleague is too fabulous for the likes of me. Off to Spain soon, where I will not give this a moment's thought, instead fortifying myself with sangria in preparation for full court agent press upon my return.

Adios, amigos.

I'm Done!!

And the jury is in, at least from Amy, my book doctor. In her last email, she said," I think we're getting really close now and the last half (or even more) really just sings along and was fun to read. You've fixed the biggest problems perfectly. "

And so I have. Down to (almost) every single suggestion she made in our follow-up conversation last week.

And now, I have crafted the perfect query letter with my perfect first three pages to the perfect agent to be sent with perfect timing. Well, not sure about the timing, but I can't worry about that. And now, I am hitting....SEND.

No more whining

I went back over my last few posts and thought, God, what a whiner. Who wants to read the complaints of a frustrated author?

Focusing on the postiive, I will just say that Amy, my book doctor, has been in possession of my precious (re)words for about two weeks, with the hope that she'd get back to me with comments by the 15th. Yesterday. I will not bug, I will not bug, I will not bug.

Now for the fun summer stuff! My beloved Camp Mataponi, my home, my refuge, my heart for nine glorious summers, is celebrating its centennial with a blow-out reunion in Naples, Maine on July 17th. I have been busy reconnecting with people I haven't seen in forty years. It promises to be a weekend of singing, crying, gabbing, more crying. I am planning to bring a giant box of tissues, just for me.

And just a few days later, I'm off to Spain, where, for the second summer in a row, I will serve as a volunteer in an English immersion program for Spaniards called Vaughantown. If last year is any guide, it'll be exhilarating and exhausting, and yes, a bit like camp, with lots of rituals and intense interconnections. An English friend from last year and I are going together this time, and following the week of volunteering with one of collapsing on the beach in Majorca where a friend of hers owns a cottage. Heaven!

I know nothing

First the good news, about my lovely weekend, which began with my traditional Friday night dinner with friends, which one calls our Shicker Shabbat (shicker being Yiddish for drunkard). We were joined by two interlopers, I mean non-regulars, and it was very fun. I am lucky to have great friends.

Saturday, another friend and I embarked on a quest for beautiful yarns for knitting, which led us to the world's greatest uber-yarn store, Webs, in Northampton, Mass, which was hosting its annual tent sale. The place was a madhouse, but I came home with yarn for three new projects, and the idea to knit an entire room - a rug, curtain, and pillows. At some point. After I finish with the damned rewrite, for the very last time.

And of course last night, I watched my man, the star of the movie version of my novel, host SNL for his 15th time. For more information on this topic, see my posts of October 31st and March 27th.

And then, today. After reading the paper and taking my 16-year-old son driving, I settled into my backyard hammock to read the entire revised manuscript, checking for flow, but also for what Amy, my book doctor, asked me to look closely at, especially her caution that ""There shouldn't be anything in the book - absolutely nothing - that doesn't relate to [heroine's} overarching goal..." I have SO MUCH trouble with this, and I'm frankly totally confused. I have scenes that I think illuminate character, or complicate lives, but that absolutely do not relate to her overarching goal. Removing those scenes just doesn't feel right.


I have done most of what Amy suggested, and the book is truly richer for it. It moves more quickly, has more dramatic tension. But here's the bottom line. I have lost all perspective on this work. I simply can't judge it any more.


I've decided to wait and see if Amy is able to read it again in June. If not, I'm definitely planning to make a small foray into the marketplace, i.e. send it out to just a couple of agents and see if I get any nibbles. If not, it'll be a sign it needs more work. I just don't know....


I am feeling tortured. Guess it goes with the territory.

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.