The Long Trek to Success
I just read John Lacombe's blog entry about a review on his book, Winter Games. It came at just the right time, because I tend to take every rejection personally (though I try not to, it's still hard not to take it personally when my mother asks if I still insist on doing that writing thing . . . ) and am reading a lot in the research process about the number of rejections that will likely come along before the elusive "YES!" comes along. As I read John's post, I zoned in on the following bit:
"I attended the Midwest Writer’s Workshop this past summer, and the two agents who sat on the faculty of this event were quickly set upon by aspiring novelists looking to form working relationships with them.Similarly, many writers will only submit query letters to a handful of agents and will quickly form emotional attachments to these chosen few.Then, when this small group of agents rejects their work, these writers are devastated and submit no more, believing their books to be inferior. The reality, of course, is that detached, thorough research could have yielded 200 agents who might have been interested in the writers’ query letters. And if only one of those 200 liked their product, the writers would have been on their way to lasting and productive author/agent relationships."
I think I'll go home this weekend and prepare queries . . . I've been researching agents for months. It's time to get those queries out there. It's a long, slow process because I do research agents so thoroughly, but it's a process that I'm willing to endure, because I do think my writing is saleable. I drafted the story, rewrote, edited, rewrote again, put it through a critique group twice and polished again. It's ready . . . and so am I.
Elle Robb
"I attended the Midwest Writer’s Workshop this past summer, and the two agents who sat on the faculty of this event were quickly set upon by aspiring novelists looking to form working relationships with them.Similarly, many writers will only submit query letters to a handful of agents and will quickly form emotional attachments to these chosen few.Then, when this small group of agents rejects their work, these writers are devastated and submit no more, believing their books to be inferior. The reality, of course, is that detached, thorough research could have yielded 200 agents who might have been interested in the writers’ query letters. And if only one of those 200 liked their product, the writers would have been on their way to lasting and productive author/agent relationships."
I think I'll go home this weekend and prepare queries . . . I've been researching agents for months. It's time to get those queries out there. It's a long, slow process because I do research agents so thoroughly, but it's a process that I'm willing to endure, because I do think my writing is saleable. I drafted the story, rewrote, edited, rewrote again, put it through a critique group twice and polished again. It's ready . . . and so am I.
Elle Robb
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