Agent for the Hubby!

Yes, I know I promised more Backspace details, but I've been away on a trip and without internet access. And while traveling, the hubby GOT AN AGENT! And not just any agent, but the fabulous Cameron McClure of The Donald Maass Agency. So, we are now agent cousins (writers represented by the same agency but not the same agent.) I'm so thrilled for him. Now he can suffer with me through revisions and the submission process. :-)

Moving Right Along

I love writing. I hate revising. Not to say I won't do it. I will. And I'll give it my best effort. I just don't enjoy it the way I enjoy creating new words. I think most writers feel the same way, although I have met a few who embrace and love revising.

Must be something wrong with them. :-)

Anyway, got my revision suggestions back from my new agent. I was, understandably, a little nervous. I mean, I knew she loved the book, or she wouldn't have offered to represent it. And she'd said she wanted minimal changes. But I worried that once she'd reread it with a closer eye (and no competitive deadline hanging over her head) that she'd find all kinds of things that needed fixing.

So I opened the email with some trepidation to find . . . one suggestion. That's right. One. And it was the same one she'd suggested in our initial conversations about the book. I take this as a tremendous compliment.

In addition, she offered several great ideas on how I might accomplish what she was looking for in that one suggestion. I guess I shouldn't have worried so much.

Now let's hope the changes meet her expectations.

New Representation!!!!!

Yes, it has been a very long time since I blogged. That's because I was dedicating every minute of free time to the Great Agent Hunt, also fondly known as GAH!!!!

I will say, I did things quite a bit differently this time. I had two manuscripts ready, so I tried to gauge agent personalities and send the right one to the right person.

I also queried a lot more widely. Instead of sticking to those representing science fiction and fantasy, I also queried agents who handled "general" and "commercial" fiction. Surprisingly, I got a lot of requests from those areas.

After I got the first offer of representation, I also decided to nudge agents who already had my partials and fulls. But in addition, I nudged those with only queries from me. This generated a firestorm of sorts, nine full requests in one day, and many more over the course of the next several days. I also received a large number of thank-you notes from agents who appreciated being "kept in the loop" even though they only had my query letter. Apparently, this sort of notification isn't normally done, but some agents have backlogs of emails, and I gathered that they are frequently disappointed if they finally get to a query letter, only to make a request and find out the writer has already accepted representation elsewhere.

The next thing I knew, I had SEVEN offers of representation, all from wonderful agents. Each night brought a different CALL. I ate little, and slept less while I agonized over making the right decision.

Some were boutique agencies. Others were major, long-established agencies in New York. Every single one of them had something positive to offer. I asked questions, spoke with their clients, did anything I could to narrow down my choices. I called friends and family members who were patient while I brainstormed my decision-making process out loud to them.

After much deliberation, I selected the fabulous Amy Boggs of The Donald Maass Literary Agency. Many, many of my favorite authors are represented by them. I am honored to be part of the Maass Agency family.

Agent Changes

If you are an unagented writer who reads this blog, here is a bit of advice. Given a choice between two equally great agents, one in a large agency, and one in a smaller one, I recommend you go with the larger agency. (And may you all have such decisions to make!) Or at the very least, be sure to ask about the agency's policy if your agent leaves.

I'm represented by FinePrint Literary Management. My agent there was the wonderful Colleen Lindsay, but my contract is with FinePrint. Colleen is moving on to a great new job elsewhere. And because of my contract and FinePrint's client policies, I'm not finding myself agentless. Instead, Colleen worked hard for each and every one of her clients to find other agents within FinePrint that would be good fits for our work.

My new agent is Stephany Evans, President of FinePrint. We met briefly at the Backspace conference last year, and I found her to be most friendly and professional. She's been in the business for twenty years, and is a member of AAR (Association of Authors Representatives), so I think I'm in great hands. I'm told she has a particular fondness for strong female protagonists. Sounds like a good match for what I write. I'm looking forward to working with her, and I am pleased with the way in which FinePrint is handling what could have been a very scary situation for writers. The thought of returning to the query process makes me a little ill. No, I take that back. It makes me very ill. I don't want to do that again, and I'm glad I don't have to.

So, I wish Colleen all the best and am eager to start working with Stephany Evans. My manuscript is out on submission right now. It's too soon, but I still jump when the phone rings. Time to go focus on something else--like my new manuscript.

A Gathering of Cool Stuff!

So, as many of my followers have noticed, I haven't blogged in a long time. Actually, I haven't blogged since my dog, the best dog in the world, mind you, died. I had thought that when I could bear to write about it, I would dedicate a post to Fraemie's phenomenal life. I am still not at that point, but it will be soon.

Instead, I wanted to discuss some of the cool things happening in my life and the lives of those around me.

First off, the writing. I continue to work on revisions with my wonderful agent, Colleen Lindsay. I have found her to be most insightful and have agreed wholeheartedly with almost every suggestion she has made. ASSASSIN'S NIGHTMARE will be a much better book with her input.

I also finished my newest manuscript for VICIOUS CIRCLE. It is unrelated to ASSASSIN'S NIGHTMARE, a bit lighter in tone, though it still features an assassin as the protagonist. I would categorize it as space opera/romance with a touch of fantasy. I'm very proud of it, but still nervous sending it off to Colleen. I guess that's normal, but I really hope she enjoys it.

The hubby has also had some recent writing success. He won first place in the YA Fantasy category of the Do It Write literary competition. This is a contest I won last year in the sci-fi category. The Harper Collins editor who ranked him first had some very nice things to say about his manuscript for VANISHING ACT, and he is starting the query process himself, now. In addition, a good friend of mine, Alina Blanco, won in the sci-fi category this year. It's nice to know all the winners!

And speaking of winning, Joe (hubby) entered a contest on author S.L. (Lynn) Viehl's blog. He won an amazing prize--a galley copy of the as-of-yet-unreleased novel in her STAR DOC series, and an extremely rare copy of the short story on which the series was based. In fact, there are only two copies of the short story in existence. The author has one, and we have one. How cool is that?! The actual book doesn't get released until August, but I get to read it now. I've read all the other books in the series and am a huge fan. I'll be diving into that this weekend. And no, I won't tell how it ends. You all will have to get your copies in August.

So, that's the latest news around here. Sorry it's been so long. Fraemie has been gone two and a half months. I still miss her terribly, though a new puppy in the house has helped ease that loss somewhat. It's hard to lose a friend of 16 years.

Request for Full Manuscript

Couldn't resist! Had to post! I had a request today for the full manuscript of Assassin's Nightmare from a very reputable New York agency. I won't give the name here, as I don't think that's considered good form, but . . . I'm excited! To get a request for a full, as a new, unpublished author, in this market, is very exciting! I've now got two weeks to finish my last edits and make it as good as it possibly can be, going on my mentor's previous advice. Eeek. Scary.

WorldCon

I have absolutely no idea where to start, so I think I'll try some logical format like a day-by-day analysis of all the really cool things that happened at WorldCon.

Wednesday (Day 1)-attended a panel on query letters hosted by one of my favorite author's agents. At the end of the panel, the hubby and I showed her our queries (just for advice) and she asked us each to send her partials of our manuscripts.

Thursday (Day 2) - The days are blurring together, but I think this is the night that one of my favorite authors, Ann Aguirre, took us out to dinner. She answered our writing/professional questions at length, and was all-around a joy to meet and chat with. Her eleven year old daughter was well-spoken and well-mannered. I enjoyed spending time with them both.

Friday (Day 3) - Pitched our book ideas to two other agents. Both requested partials from each of us. It was such a relief to be done with the agent side of the convention. Then we could relax and just be fans for awhile. All the agents we met, though, were extremely nice and easy to talk to, even though I stressed massively beforehand.

This was also the day we got to sit down for two different kaffeeklatsches, one with Elizabeth Moon and the other with Tanya Huff. Both were inspiring to hear talk about their work. Tanya was particularly helpful in giving agent advice, and Elizabeth shared humorous stories about swords and horses.

Saturday (Day 4) - received another request for a partial of my manuscript by email. And tonight was The Hugo Awards Ceremony. It was really a thrill being able to vote on and attend such a prestigious event. Of course, after assuring us that she would not do so, Elizabeth Bear won the short story category. Well, we tried to tell her that she would win when we met her at ReaderCon. The hubby and I both voted for her. It was a shame that she wasn't there to accept her award in person.

Sunday (Day 5) - attended a last panel with Tanya Huff on creating female soldiers. Then, it was back to the hotel to sleep for the next ten hours or so.

These are just the convention highlights. I met many other wonderful people and made new friends. I also got to spend time with several online acquaintances whom I hope will visit us in our area so we can show them around sometime. That's all I can remember for now. I got home at 1:45 A.M. from the airport and went to bed at 2:00 A.M. and had to be at work today at 7:30 A.M. so my memory isn't all there.

IT'S DONE

Well, the first draft, that is. Yep, the novel I've been working on, Agency Files-Assassin's Nightmare, is finished as of last night. I've started revising and got through the first couple of chapters today, but quite frankly, I'm sick of it and taking a break tomorrow.

It's a strange feeling, putting the last word on the last page of a novel you've been working on for months. Kind of bittersweet. Kind of exhausting. Kind of exhilarating. More exhausting.

Also today, I participated in an online chat with Lucienne Diver and several other agents. Very interesting, helpful, and informative. I asked what questions I should be prepared to answer in a pitch session and I'm keeping notes for when I meet her again in August in Denver.

Speaking of Denver, we got our airline tickets today. Yay credit card points!

And I sent off my first query letter for this book to Query Shark, a website that will review and critique queries.

So, I'm off and running. Now I need a nap.