Oh Happy Day!

So I've had an interesting week so far. I'd totally intended on powering through PHARAOH'S LINK this weekend but it didn't end up happening. Instead, the muse decided to wack me over the head with 3 other ideas. So I gave in and am starting a couple of them.

I'm really hoping to get a few chapters in on this one project, an historical thriller, before July 6. Why you ask? Because I'm going to a writer's workshop led by Steve Berry and I'm hoping to get his opinion on a few things. Plus, I'd like to be able to send the material to Roger to get his feeling on the project.

I also have some other good news. I was very concerned that I had lost my scholarship for school. I received a letter in the mail today congratulating me on keeping it! I was SO happy. You have no idea. I'd been pnaicking for weeks that I'd not made the grade to keep it. I'm so relieved now.

I also recieved another rejection on EUTERPE'S SONG yesterday. And it was quite the lovely rejection. The editor praised the premise and a lot of the situations but they felt it wasn't quite right for their imprint, which focuses on character driven work. And they were concerned that any new work that has a heavily Greek mythology bent will obviously be compared to Percy Jackson and it may not hold up. But the editor assured me (and my agent) that we'd probably get a taker and that they would have the perfect vision to get my characters on the shelves.

Now this may seem like, oh they didn't want it because of the competition. Which, to be fair, is true. But what I like about this is that it shows the editor took the time to carefully consider my work. That to me, speaks volumes.

And hopefully I'll be back next week with some writing progress updates for you. And who knows, I may have read another book by then. We'll see.

Euterpe's Song update

Hey all!

As promised on Sunday, I'm back with a quick update on where EUTERPE'S SONG is in the publishing rounds.

Not much has changed. We've still only gotten one rejection. It was a nice enough one. I've learned that editors don't want to give you any really useful information in their rejections. I suppose it's because they don't want to appear foolish when the book actually does get published. But as rejections go, I'll take it.

By the end of the month we will be out with 5 houses, all top honchos in the biz;
S&S, HMH, RH, Penguin and HC. We'll see where things stand at the end of finals time.

Until next week. Cheers all.

Apologies and a very brief update

First off, I want to say I'm sorry for not blogging last week. My computer had a whole host of problems that kept me from being able to blog. Though, perhaps it was for the best as I didn't have much to report/share last week.

This is going to be a pretty short post. Just wanted to give a quick update on where EUTERPE'S SONG stands. So far, we've gotten a pass from one publisher. No worries though, plenty more out there. And to me, getting that first rejection means we're really in the game. I'm quite excited to see where this goes. I've been told my editor and agent are working together going forward to submit to various editors. It makes me swell with pride to hear how vigorously and pasionately they've been pitching my baby.

Off and Running!

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a good President's Day. If you had it off, yay you! If not, well I hope it was still a good Monday. Also, a belated Happy Valentine's Day to those of you who celebrate. Hope you got share a little something special with your some special.

Anyway, I've got some very exciting news to share. As of today (2/16/2010) EUTERPE'S SONG is on submission to publishers.

What does that mean?

It means that my agent (Roger) has sent out my manuscript and the TIP sheet (tune in next week for a Writing Tip on the TIP) to editors at various publishing houses. We should hear back on this initial round in a few weeks. I will keep you updated.

So now I'm going to celebrate this rather monumental step forward in the publishing process. See you next week for a fun and informative Writing Tip.

Status Update

Hey everyone!

This week is basically a status update on EUTERPE'S SONG. I've finished my final edits and my agent (and editor) are figuring out where to submit my baby. With any luck we'll be on the road (read: on submission) in the next couple weeks. I'll keep you updated as I know more information.

I have to say, I'm quite amazed by how much EUTERPE has changed since that first draft back in May. Sure, I'd had beta readers critique it and did a revision before I started submitting to agents in August but it wasn't quite where it needed to be. So, I did another revision in August before I sent it off to a new batch of agents (Roger included), getting it up to about 34,000 words. A better length but not quite strong enough still with some elements of the plot. Despite my overwhelming misuse of commas and my plethora of disembodied body parts, Carlie stuck with me and I think we have a beautiful little novel. Now weighing in at 35,000 words. She's ready to find a nice home somewhere.

So I will see you next week (possibly sooner, depending). Stay warm!

One step closer

Hey everybody.

I just wanted to drop by and let you know that I just finished round 1 of edits with my awesome editor, Carlie. The next step is another round of edits, hopefuly less to change that time around.

I'm also planning on spending the next month working on a new project. I'm hoping to have a first draft by the end of 2009.

And, I will be spending the next month and a half getting ready for my first set of law school exams. It really boggles the mind that I'm halfway through my first semester. The time really has flown!

What do a Literary Agent in South Jersey and a Law School in Rhode Island have in common?

...they are both named Roger Williams and they both accepted me. That is right folks, I was offered representation by Mr. Roger Williams of Publish or Perish Agency!

What does that mean?

No more query letters. No more sitting around and wondering if and when something is going to happen.

Here's the timeline:

I submitted to Roger on 23 August 2009 (a questionaire and the first 60 pages). On 14 September 2009 I received a request for the full manuscript (noted in the previous post). On 16 September 2009 Roger asked me to call him at my earliest convenience. I did so and was promptly offered representation.

The contract was sent shortly after we finished our first conversation and I took a few days to consider it and have a couple of qualified professionals (the bonus of being in law school with professors who like to see you putting what you've learned to good use)look over it. I signed and am now officially agented.

So what's next you ask? Well I begin working with the lovely Carlie, my editor to get the novel up to snuff. Then Roger sends out to publishers and fingers crossed, someone offers to buy the manuscript. So I will keep you all in the loop as this wild and wacky journey continues.

Novel excitment and other writing bits

Hey everyone. I just wanted to let you know that I received my first request for the full manuscript of Euterpe's Song yesterday. I'll be mailing out the hard copy this afternoon and hopefully I will hear some good things in a few weeks.

As for the rest of the query stats; I've sent 23 query letters, recieved 10 rejections and I have 2 oustanding partials.

On a somewhat related note, I'm beginning research for a new young adult novel set in the 1970s. I'll be doing some fun browsing the Massachusetts General Law on adoptions.

New TV Critic Blog and some Writing Random bits

So I wanted to let you know about this awesome new blog I had the great fortune to run across (ok so the blogger is a close personal friend of mine). For those who love TV (and I mean really, who doesn't) you MUST go check out More TV, Please. In the coming weeks, I'll be posting a guest blog on MTVP so keep an eye out for that. I'll let you know when I have more exact details.

In writing news, I thought I'd let you know how the process of finding an agent for my middle grade urban fantasy Euterpe's Song is going. Thus far I have sent out 19 queries to agents, with three requesting to see materials. Six agents have declined to consider my work. Ten queries are still pending. I have 8 agents left on my list that I have not contacted yet. So far it has been a very interesting and pretty painless process (knock on wood).

I really feel strongly about this project, and not just because I wrote it...because obviously that should be the case with anything we write. I love this novel because of the story it tells. There isn't a lot of fiction out that that deals with Greek mythology, let alone in a modern setting that younger readers can relate to. It is my hope that with Euterpe's Song, I can bring a little of that history to the forefront and make it intriguing again.