It has been a couple of years since I wrote on my blog. The Pandemic happened, hope happened, and I wrote three novels and working on two more and my memoirs. I was on a roll, and then I stalled.
I felt like that time when Scarlet, my red car, stalled on the side of the road and I had a trunk filled with groceries that were going to spoil. I did have my phone. It was my lifeline that night. I reached my cousin Tim, and he was going to come when he got the cows fed. He is a farmer. I understood he could not just rush to my side. A couple stopped and stayed until Tim arrived. In the end he had to tow my car with me steering it behind him to another cousin's house. He then helped me get my groceries home.
My writing stalled. I am stopped on the side of the road not knowing what to do. I know where my story is going to take me, but I am stalled. I also know what the problem is.
I have stepped into the murky sea of finding an agent. I have no idea what I am doing, but I am slowly learning some things about agents.
First if they tell you to only send certain things. Only send those things. Do not be tempted to give them more than they ask. They don't like that if you do it.
Second if you can't seem to get the query letter correct, Go to friends. In my case describing myself was the most difficult thing to do. My friends encouraged me and got me comfortable about me. I see myself as a mountain woman with nothing special about myself.
Third choosing carefully which agent to submit. We all have our own ideas of what we like and don't like. Some post their pictures, some write detailed bios, and others not so much. I admit so far, I have not been even close to choosing the right agent up to now, but I am getting closer. Each reject I have received is a learning tool. The first one whom I sent too much information wrote a very nice rejection to me and encouraged me to continue to look for an agent. He was also a jazz musician and this book's main male character plays jazz music. The second one told me she was now closed to queries and also encouraged me to keep searching. The third one never responded at all, and that also seems to be what the majority do. I now set a time limit on whether I will wait for a response... Most give their response time, and from comments I realized that some do not honor their own response time. I will give three months and if they have not responded, I will move. The fourth reject hurt because I got a form email and the response felt flat saying the publishing world had changed, but feel free to submit other work to me. Readers want good stories that has not changed, and I have written a good story.
Fourth I made a mistake of submitting only to one agent at time, but now I submit to many. I am keeping up with the dates and to whom I submitted things.
Fifth Waiting is impossible. I am not a patience person. Well in somethings I am but my mother would have told you that I was impossible before Christmas and I learned all her hiding places and so she sent my gifts to a neighbor's so I could not find them. I am learning more often than not I am waiting for disappointment. But it is this waiting that has stalled me.
Since that last rejection, i have been frozen in my writings. I have asked myself questions like why am I doing this to myself? I love this story and I know why. I think this is an important story. It is also important for me to keep writing and believing not only in myself but also my work. This is the reason I have come back to my blog.
I hope to write about my novel series but not necessarily about the story, but I will give you some hints and maybe post some of my favorite sections of the novels. All I ask is that you come along with me and share this to others. Make comments here. I have faith this story will be published.
Ever in Christ's Love,
Mary Elizabeth Todd
I felt like that time when Scarlet, my red car, stalled on the side of the road and I had a trunk filled with groceries that were going to spoil. I did have my phone. It was my lifeline that night. I reached my cousin Tim, and he was going to come when he got the cows fed. He is a farmer. I understood he could not just rush to my side. A couple stopped and stayed until Tim arrived. In the end he had to tow my car with me steering it behind him to another cousin's house. He then helped me get my groceries home.
My writing stalled. I am stopped on the side of the road not knowing what to do. I know where my story is going to take me, but I am stalled. I also know what the problem is.
I have stepped into the murky sea of finding an agent. I have no idea what I am doing, but I am slowly learning some things about agents.
First if they tell you to only send certain things. Only send those things. Do not be tempted to give them more than they ask. They don't like that if you do it.
Second if you can't seem to get the query letter correct, Go to friends. In my case describing myself was the most difficult thing to do. My friends encouraged me and got me comfortable about me. I see myself as a mountain woman with nothing special about myself.
Third choosing carefully which agent to submit. We all have our own ideas of what we like and don't like. Some post their pictures, some write detailed bios, and others not so much. I admit so far, I have not been even close to choosing the right agent up to now, but I am getting closer. Each reject I have received is a learning tool. The first one whom I sent too much information wrote a very nice rejection to me and encouraged me to continue to look for an agent. He was also a jazz musician and this book's main male character plays jazz music. The second one told me she was now closed to queries and also encouraged me to keep searching. The third one never responded at all, and that also seems to be what the majority do. I now set a time limit on whether I will wait for a response... Most give their response time, and from comments I realized that some do not honor their own response time. I will give three months and if they have not responded, I will move. The fourth reject hurt because I got a form email and the response felt flat saying the publishing world had changed, but feel free to submit other work to me. Readers want good stories that has not changed, and I have written a good story.
Fourth I made a mistake of submitting only to one agent at time, but now I submit to many. I am keeping up with the dates and to whom I submitted things.
Fifth Waiting is impossible. I am not a patience person. Well in somethings I am but my mother would have told you that I was impossible before Christmas and I learned all her hiding places and so she sent my gifts to a neighbor's so I could not find them. I am learning more often than not I am waiting for disappointment. But it is this waiting that has stalled me.
Since that last rejection, i have been frozen in my writings. I have asked myself questions like why am I doing this to myself? I love this story and I know why. I think this is an important story. It is also important for me to keep writing and believing not only in myself but also my work. This is the reason I have come back to my blog.
I hope to write about my novel series but not necessarily about the story, but I will give you some hints and maybe post some of my favorite sections of the novels. All I ask is that you come along with me and share this to others. Make comments here. I have faith this story will be published.
Ever in Christ's Love,
Mary Elizabeth Todd