I bought this for myself in January, after I signed with my literary agent:
Aren’t they cute? I’d had my eye on them — these little glass balls that look like Bingo balls — for a couple of years, actually. I finally treated myself, and put them in this glass vase in my den to inspire me to use my letters wisely. …
Yikes, I’m way behind on my blogging. It’s already April, and I’m still in January mode, asking what your favorite book was in 2012! But I really want to know — Do you remember what your fave was?
Here’s what I read last year. I’d love to hear your comments on any of these! My fave is at the end (had to mull it over!).
I put links to any from my friends and fellow Firebirds! :
* Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking — Susan Cain. Wow. This was really a life-altering book. It was a recommendation from Gretchen Rubin (The Happiness Project) on Facebook. And I couldn’t resist the title. I was going to buy it for my Kindle, but I’m still unsure of how borrowing works on the Kindle, plus I knew right away I’d want to lend it to my son Ricky, so I ended up driving out to Barnes and Noble one night and buying it in hardcopy. And then I bought a second one and had it shipped to Ricky, so he could keep his own copy! It’s EXCELLENT. Truly a must-read for all introverts who have felt like outcasts in some way, and even for the extroverts who love them! It will help you understand yourself, or understand each other. And it really makes introverts feel like they’re not as weird as they thought they were. Very validating. Continue reading
Well, I’ve wanted to say this for a looooooooong time, but I’m finally “out on submission,” which means my agent is shopping my book out to publishers.
I can hardly believe it!
Of course, this can take a very long time (and there’s probably another huge string of rejections I’ll have to get used to — this time coming from publishers instead of agents), but I’m still very, very excited.
Now … on to write the next book! 
So if Step 1 is to write your book, and Steps 2 through 73 are to write a bazillion query letters and enter contests to help you find an agent, and Step 74 is to score an agent, I guess I’m finally at Step 75 or so.
And that involves making some manuscript changes that my agent thinks will help win over publishers of my genre.
She didn’t ask for many changes. And the few she asked for I agreed with 100%. But the biggest thing she needed me to do was to trim the manuscript by 16,000 words. (Gasp!)
Not that I didn’t know that was coming. …
I’d read lots of great articles and posts about why 100,000 words it the TOP of the word count, and – for a debut author – you should really try to hit the low line of the word count, like 85,000 words. (Everyone asks me how many pages this is, and I’m not really sure — I always think in word count. But I think 85,000 words is roughly 200 pages, 100,000 words is closer to 350 I believe. I was writing close to 400! a.k.a. Too many.)
Anyway, I’ve always written long. At the newspaper I was known for this, and it sometimes when an ad would drop out, my editors Dixie or Greg would turn to me and ask me if I could extend a story (sometimes other people’s stories!) by 300 words to fit the space? Sure! Writing long was my specialty. … Continue reading
Yes, indeedy!
I’m officially an agented author now!
Now all those weeks of the kids having no clean socks; the refrigerator being mostly empty; missing most of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; ignoring the kids’ hints that maybe I should decorate for Christmas; having to go out to eat again because I was too busy at the computer; missing the last part of Ricky’s “The Walking Dead” family marathon; and using up every last second of my vacation time … well, it all seems worth it!
I scrambled to meet my November 30 deadline to finish writing the next manuscript, then a January 2 deadline to turn in the polished manuscript to the next Golden Heart contest, and also mentioned to the agent who I really wanted (squeeee!) – Jill Marsal at Marsal-Lyon Literary Agency – that I’d send her the new ms on Jan. 2 also.
It took zero-ing out on vacation time and that burying-myself-in-a-cave thing, but I did it.
And she called me the next morning to offer representation!
Yippee, 2013!
Here we goooooooooo …
