Does this kid rock or what?I know I should be beginning to make the changes on my ms. an agent suggested. He/She didn't promise to take it if I did, but said it would be a good novel if I did some of what was suggested and that it was good enough to finish even the first read, poor thing that it was. According to the info at Backspace Agents Conference, this is a good sign. The changes are both small and large. One change would be fairly major but I think it's a good one.
I know I should also send out queries to other agents in case I can never satisfy this one.
I want to write a flash piece for JR's new site. I have a few shorts that just need a last go-over. And yet here I sit doing none of the above. I just finished reading one of the middle-brow novels I am attracted to when away from home. It was wayyyyyyyy too long. Are all middlebrow novels too long? I find that they are.
What do you do when immobilized to shake yourself out of it? It's time to go home and sit in my room and work harder than this setup allows me.
Plus my darling grandson started walking while we were away. Nine steps or more. Darn.
13 comments:
Don't read something middlebrow. Read something phenomenal. It always motivates me to work harder and get back at it, anyway.
And yeah, middlebrow is too long because it's predictable, usually, and there's nothing particularly special about it.
When I'm feeling like sludge, I tend to read it. But you're right-I'm about to start Tom Drury on my son-in-law suggestion. He says he's phenomenal.
That's great news about the agent. ... I believe that good feedback from proven, smart agents is golden, and a great opportunity. ... And yes, your grandson does rock. Great pic.
Hi Greg-Loved your stories in Pulp Pusher and Demolition. I'm a long way from having an agent, but cloer than before I wrote the book. Thanks.
I don't know. Is this a dream agent? Someone high on your "A" list?
Sure, good editorial advice is good editorial advice where ever it comes from, but.... sometimes I wonder if it's pure ego that drives some of these agent "suggestions" - I've heard about a lot of these agents who insist on changes. You make them and they still don't come across with representation.
God, I hope it works out for you.
I don't think I had an A list or any list really but this is an agent who's been interested in my work for a while so I think he's sincere. He does have some A clients.
I won't make any changes I don't believe in though. Thanks for your imput. It is difficult, isn't it? And of course, I'll keep the original verion on hand.
Hi Patti,
Your grandson is adorable. If he needs a date for a ride on the rocking horse, my youngest grand daughter just took her first steps this week.
By Christmas they'll be running around.
I have a small excuse (NaNoWriMo and getting ready for a reading and signing of the anthology with my first published short story) but I haven't been able to get off the stick with my Backspace info either. Each day I start and then . . .
Well, you will be my inspiration. Let's go, girl.
Terrie
Hi Terrie-What fun. Their first Christmas. All that...wrapping paper.
Yeah, it's one of those names just coming back into style and if you;re a bit older it reminds you of your great aunt. Thanks for the support.
Patti, I have a writer friend who wound up with multiple versions of her MS because multiple agents all asked her to make (different from one another's) changes.
They can't all be right?
Eventually she signed with the BookEnds gals (who tried but could not sell her book), but still she put in a ton of work and wasted a lot of time on all those other courting agents re-writing a different version of her MS for each one.
It's a cautionary tale for me.
Aren't they fun to watch as they bumble about? Lorelai is a walking fiend now. She thinks it's the funniest thing in the world.
I remain dubious about agents who suspect they are actually editors, unless they are serving as editors (Frederik Pohl at his [inherited] Dirk Wylie agency and editing STAR SCIENCE FICTION STORIES volumes in the early '50s]. I queried some pro writers and editors this weekend about the whole notion of having to pitch to agents...uniformly, they rejected this as a trap for the unwary (and one of them, Gordon Van Gelder, has been a CF book editor). Agents who think they know what will make your book sell, particulalry if they haven't actually sold anything for you...well, I know some beginning pros who've had similar runarounds with agents who were either flakes, or trying to get the writer to go away but too lazy or dishonest to say so, or both.
I take it you have queried people like Bill Crider, and Ed Gorman who has been on both sides of the desk (even if for the life of me I can't remember the name of project he does with MH Greenberg, that is moving away from short-fiction collections or was a few back...ah, yest, Five Star).
I remain dubious about agents who suspect they are actually editors, unless they are serving as editors (Frederik Pohl at his [inherited] Dirk Wylie agency and editing STAR SCIENCE FICTION STORIES volumes in the early '50s]. I queried some pro writers and editors this weekend about the whole notion of having to pitch to agents...uniformly, they rejected this as a trap for the unwary (and one of them, Gordon Van Gelder, has been a CF book editor). Agents who think they know what will make your book sell, particulalry if they haven't actually sold anything for you...well, I know some beginning pros who've had similar runarounds with agents who were either flakes, or trying to get the writer to go away but too lazy or dishonest to say so, or both.
I take it you have queried people like Bill Crider, and Ed Gorman who has been on both sides of the desk (even if for the life of me I can't remember the name of project he does with MH Greenberg, that is moving away from short-fiction collections or was a few back...ah, yest, Five Star).
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