99 Problems But A Query Ain't One



Jay looks like he's just gotten back a few form rejections.

I’m pleased to report, after the borderline whiny tone of my last post, that querying has gone very well this go around.  I currently have a whopping five full manuscripts and two partials out with some of the best agents in the biz.  I’ve actually become accustomed to positive responses to my queries, which is an all together unnerving change of circumstance.  When I received a polite decline last week I actually thought to myself, “Oh well, your loss.”  How’s that for letting a few “Not no’s” go to your head?  Occasional grounding rejection aside, I’m very hopeful that things are on the right path with this one.    

So, I feel like I’m at a bit of a crossroads.  I’m very hopeful this book will connect with a great agent.  I’m not quite so bold as to think it might connect with more than one agent and what a dilemma that will create for me.  (Ok, I lied, I have thought of that.  My secret ego knows no bounds.  It’s like Doctors Without Borders only exponentially less usefully to mankind in general).  In the meantime, I’m trying to brainstorm my next book’s premise, and that’s where I’m having a little difficulty.  I’ve written two books before this current one, and while I think they both have merit and could even become great reads with some guidance from an experienced agent who could show me where the tweaks are needed, there was something about them that didn’t catch an agent’s eye the last go round.  Without a firm understanding of what those shortcomings were, or, better yet, some feedback on what made my current work so appealing, I’m gun shy about committing close to a year of my life to a story that might not have the market appeal it could if I just had a little powwow with my (future) agent beforehand. 

What a great problem to have, huh?  So sure that I’ll have an agent in a few months that I don’t want to start on my next project without their feedback first.  Have you ever seen someone else jinx something so completely or effectively?   

While I wait patiently for the first response to my full manuscript read through, I will continue to let my mind wander, attempting to let an infectious story take hold in my brain and fire up a passion in me for it that just won’t allow it not to be written.  Because, truly, with or without expert advice, if I can’t come up with a story that I’m absolutely in love with, no one else will ever fall in love with it either.  And those are the kinds of books I’d like to write.