On Meeting my Agent, Rob Thomas (Of Veronica Mars), and Blogging Friends

In September, I made the drive up to Dallas to meet my agent, Marietta Zacker, IN PERSON! She was a speaker at DFW's SCBWI conference, so I met up with her the day before for lunch and, of course, ice cream! She's smart, she's kind, and she's hysterical! We had a GREAT time, just like old friends.

Aren't we cute?! I'm one blessed gal, that's for sure. *hugs agent*

And last weekend I went to the Austin Teen Book Festival! What an amazing event, headed up by the one and only Jen Bigheart. She asked me to be one of the event photographers this year, so I came out of retirement, dusted off my camera and lenses (I really did have them professionally cleaned), and road tripped it out there with Maria. While I had a great time, I'm officially thankful I'm not in the photography biz anymore.

One of the highlights of the weekend was meeting Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas! He's so genuinely nice too!

I was also blown away by Sarah Dessen. I've only read two of her books, but after meeting her and listening to her on her panel, I'm a fan for life. She's just an amazing person. Sadly, I don't have a picture of us. Sigh.

But I do have pictures with the girls! I finally got to meet Julie Murphy in person!

She's so sweet, y'all. And one of the funniest people I've ever met. Watch for her book, Side Effects May Vary, coming from Balzer+Bray in March! 

And I finally met all of the Girls in the Stacks! I had so much fun rooming with them!

L-R: Top-Maria, me, Stephanie Pellegrin; Bottom-Shannan and Stacy from GITS, and Julie.

I VOLUNTEER!

L-R: Top-Katie from Mundie Moms, Stacy, Nancy also from GITS; Bottom-Stephanie, me.
(behind the camera is the super sweet and talented Magan Blasig of Rather Be Reading)

I had so much fun working behind the scenes and helping the Fierce Reads tour at their signing table. It felt like a stepping stone from attending spectator, to worker bee, to one day, however hard to believe right now, an author sitting on panels and signing books. So excited to start my debut year in just a couple months! Eeeek!

What have YOU been up to this summer? Go to any conferences or book festivals? Meet any blogging friends?

A Book Deal of My Very Own!!

For those of you that missed my Twitter and Facebook FREAKOUT last week...

I'M GOING TO BE PUBLISHED!

BY BLOOMSBURY!

NEXT YEAR!

Here's a little breakdown of my life since October, GIF style.

I HAVE AN AGENT!

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I'M ON SUBMISSION! But wait... editors have my book? REAL EDITORS? At REAL publishing houses? People who have edited books that I've READ are reading MY BOOK?

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But months went by...

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So I tried to distract myself with my WIP...

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Until I got a call from my agent and she said she was about to change my life.

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And she told me about the offer from Bloomsbury.

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As she kept talking, it slowly sunk in.

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And then...

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And I told my family.

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And critique partners.

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And then I heard they planned on publishing it in MAY of 2014?!?!

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And then I found out it was going to be a TWO-BOOK DEAL.

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And then I talked to my editor for the first time and discovered that we're basically the same person. (We even both take tap dance classes on Wednesdays!?!)

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I'm so so so so excited to be working with Caroline Abbey at Bloomsbury, I can't even tell you! She's worked with Lindsey Leavitt and Melissa Walker! And you know who else is at Bloomsbury? SHANNON HALE! Remember when I met her last year and fangirled all over the place? And she asked me to tell a little about myself so I blabbered about being a writer and then she asked what house I was with and I had to say I just started querying, but now I can say BLOOMSBURY LIKE YOU! *breathes* I just... can't even.

I am so grateful to so many people. My amazing agent, my family, my critique girls, my beta readers, my writing buddies, my blogging support system, and now to my editor for giving me this amazing opportunity for an experience of a lifetime! I mean, NEXT YEAR... MY BOOK will be ON SHELVES in BOOKSTORES, in LIBRARIES, and WHO KNOWS WHERE ELSE?! People I don't know are going to read it, and sure some will hate it and some will be just meh about it... but some might actually love it! I am okay with ALL OF THIS!

I am more than okay, I am:

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I've Been Interviewed!

Today I would like to direct you to Kristin Lynn Thetford's blog for a super fun interview! She was so sweet to ask me to be a part of her Newly Agented Writers Series.

CHECK IT OUT HERE!

And Kristin is a newly agented writer herself, recently signing with Louise Fury of the L. Perkins Agency, which means her and my critter KM are agency buddies, and that's pretty cool! 

Agents for EVERYONE! And a New Year...

What a year 2012 has been! Finished my MS, queried it, met my critique partners for the first time(!!) and three of us went to an agent conference to pitch our books (eeek!), and ALL THREE of us signed with agents this fall!!

I signed with Marietta Zacker of the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency, Kristi signed with Bree Ogden of D4EO Literary, and KM signed with Emily Keyes of the L. Perkins Literary Agency! And another of my crit partners, Amy L. Sonnichsen, signed with Kate Testerman of KT Literary! I am so so so thankful for these ladies. We are proof that a solid group of critique partners really does make you a stronger writer. We want each other to be the best that we can be, and I hope that your crit group feels the same!

Of course, I'm hoping 2013 will be the year of book deals for everyone haha! Unfortunately, there's not much I can do about that besides live in a constant state of mild panic at the thought that real editors have my MS. A nice problem to have though, I'm aware. I'm very thankful my agent took a chance on me, and I look forward to see what this new year has in store. And if you're querying or soon to be, I hope 2013 will be YOUR YEAR! (I'm looking at you Sarah, Abby and Colene ;)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

How I Got My Agent

*I'm sorry this is a long post! But let's be real, you're going to skim it anyway ;)

Recently I signed with the amazing Marietta Zacker of the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency, a pairing that was actually rather close to not happening at all. I'm fascinated with "how I got my agent" stories, so for those of you who are curious, here's mine. Parts of it are ridiculously unbelievable, even to me, but I hope it will inspire you not to give up on your own dream!

So I wrote this book... that was step one. Drafting and a few rounds of revisions took about a year. Then came the time to actually send out queries. At first I targeted agents that had success representing books similar to mine. This isn't exactly the best idea, since they already have a client like me. I got great feedback from several agents, two of which took the time to send extensive revision suggestions, and I reworked where I saw fit. The changes made the story stronger, but mid-end of summer was maddeningly quiet on the query response/request front. I was losing hope. Maybe this story wasn't the one. So I worked to emotionally let it go, and dove into my next story.

And I went query-rabid.

Now, Marietta was closed some of the time I queried, but I had a watch set on her agent profile on Query Tracker to be notified when she reopened. To me, her and her agency felt extremely unattainable. One of those dream agencies you query and try to forget you queried because you don't want to think about the rejection that's coming. One of my critique partners queried Nancy Gallt, and for a second I was tempted to fill out that form on the website too, but something held me back. Inside, I knew I needed to wait to query that agency until Marietta was open again.

I spent the first half of September sending queries to the rest of the agents on my list (the peak of my query-rabid stage, expecting nothing, happy with how my new story was shaping up). On a whim, I participated in a Twitter pitch event (#pitmad) on a Thursday (that I only knew about because my critique partner happened to mention it on gchat that morning), which led to a request, which led to my first offer by an unscheduled phone call the following Monday, September 17th, which happened to be the same day Marietta reopened. I had queried her as soon as I woke up that morning, and the offer that stemmed from #pitmad came just a few hours later. I notified a couple agents with my material of the offer, as well as some agents I'd queried that I was especially interested in hearing back from. Suddenly there were a handful of agents interested, all promising to get back to me as soon as possible. But being me, I didn't expect any more offers.

After that first phone call, I got an email from Marietta, asking to read the entire manuscript! A same-day response from an agent that JUST reopened, on the same day I got an offer. This was just too unreal. I sent her the full, and notified her of the offer.

I got a second offer on Tuesday, and my head was spinning. I now had a decision to make. I was going to have to tell someone no, and someone yes. I could hardly eat or sleep.

Thursday, on my way home from work, I got another unscheduled phone call. It was offer number three. I had to pull over to a parking lot to talk to her so I wouldn't wreck.

Friday, an email from another agent to set up a phone call. Offer number four.

What. The. Bleep. Do. I. Do. Now?

I spent the weekend in shock. Tossing and turning. Not eating. Anxious. Confused. Thrilled.

Monday I checked in with the agents still considering, letting them know I now had four offers, and that I was preparing to make my decision. Marietta responded, and we set up a phone call for that afternoon. Offer number five. I felt so good after speaking with her. Not only did she get my story the way I wanted readers to get it, but she was incredibly kind, experienced, and just... right.

But I still had time to think, and Tuesday I got another offer. Number six (I told you this story got completely unbelievable. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it).

Wednesday morning I woke up with the clarity that Marietta was my agent. I still had one more agent with the full, but she was pretty much unresponsive by this point. Convinced I was done, and confident in my decision, I emailed Marietta, set up a phone call, and accepted her offer on the phone. Much squealing of delight followed after I hung up.

I HAVE AN AGENT! OMG! WHAT? IS THIS REAL LIFE? AHHHHHH!!

Later that afternoon, of course, I finally got an email from the last agent I was convinced I would never hear from. She wanted to set up a phone call to make an offer. Number seven. You've got to be kidding. I wrote her back and thanked her, but had to decline the phone call.

I know what you're thinking. This story is bogus. Trust me, I was saying this to myself and my family the entire time. With each phone call, I just felt like I was falling farther and farther down some rabbit hole of a dream. It sounds exciting--the problem you want to have, they say. But it was, at times, heartbreaking. There were tears involved. There was much stress. I felt sick all the time because I wasn't eating or sleeping well. I had to choose between amazing agents who all loved my story. Who wanted to take a chance on me and my little YA contemporary story that I had just started to believe would never make it anywhere. Thankfully, once I talked to Marietta, the agent that almost wasn't an option, my choice was clear.

So I don't have one of those stories where I queried 10 people and got an offer right away. I queried wide, and for months. I got a lot of nos. I just about gave up, but decided to go ahead and send queries to the rest of the agents on my list. To jump into a Twitter pitch event, of all things. To go ahead and query that unattainable agent as soon as she reopened to queries. And suddenly it was all worth it. Every little thing during my query experience happened because Marietta and I were always supposed to work together. Let this encourage you not to take rejections so hard. They're going to happen. Keep in mind, that one "no" might be making way for that one "yes" you're meant for later.

And because it inspired me to see the numbers on these types of posts:

Total time querying: 5 months
Total queries sent: 121
Query rejections: 59
Partial requests: 13
Full requests: 13 
(Those numbers are the same, but not all partials were upgraded to fulls. Some agents ask for fulls right off the bat)
Offers of representation: 7
The rest are no-responders, or have yet to respond (as of the time of this post, I'm still getting rejections!)

"Your time will come, if you wait for it, if you wait for it. It's hard, believe me, I've tried..." 
- Imagine Dragons

Don't give up on your dreams. They're worth the effort it takes to get there. 

I Have an AGENT!!!

The past couple of weeks have been an absolute whirlwind, but I can now officially say, I HAVE AN AGENT!!! It's happened! And I might still be in shock. I mean, how long have I dreamed of this day? I found someone who loves my story just as much as I do. Who GETS it. Who is sweet, and funny, honest, professional, and just so wonderful I want to lace up my skates, hop onto the ice, and fling myself into a flying camel spin. (Considering I haven't been on the ice in years, probably not the best idea, but right now I feel like I could do it!) EEEEP!!

I've signed with Marietta Zacker of the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency! I'm agent-buddies with the fabulous Hilary Wagner! And I'm agency-mates with Rick Riordan! Y'all.... I just... I can't even....

Marietta and Nancy represent so many great authors, I look forward to familiarizing myself with them, and I feel so honored and blessed to be added to their client list! Could I possibly add any more exclamation points to this post?! Just a few more!! And I'll post the whole story soon, for those of you who are curious!

A big THANK YOU to all of my followers, blogging buddies, and my amazing critique partners and betas (KM, Kristi, Kim, Amy and Cari). Your comments, encouragement and critiques have kept me going. Much love!

Never give up on your goals. Ever.

Querying as a Jane Austen Adaptation

When it comes to reading Ms. Austen's novels, I'm pretty lazy. I've read Pride and Prejudice several times, but I'm really bad about zoning out and setting it aside for long periods of time. Then I get frustrated and watch one of the movie versions. Oh, Movie Versions. What would we do without thee?

The other day, I was watching Persuasion for the millionth time. The version with THIS guy:

And I couldn't help sympathizing with Anne Elliot, our heroine. Really, any of Austen's heroines. With each unfortunate situation, I kept thinking, THIS IS MY LIFE RIGHT NOW. She's practically querying her manuscript! All she wants is an amazing agent that loves her book to marry for love (not that it hurts if he's well connected to the big six off), but with each man she starts to consider as a match, she's disappointed. She goes for a long walk with her family and the possible agent of her career love of her life, and she's the only lady that's not asked for the full manuscript escorted over the tiny bridge. Her cousin William starts to make eyes at her, even though he's obviously shady, but all along she's trying to get the attentions of Captain Wentworth. He's her dream agent come to life. For the majority of our glimpse into Anne's life, the Captain is quite unattainable, despite his own stolen glances and compliments to her writing and voice.

Before you start querying, you hear about the "ups and downs," but I don't think you quite "get" it until you're up to your neck in rejections and close calls. There are a lot of downs, but there can also be some ups that really mend the damage the downs caused. Take the criticism and learn from it. Take the praise and don't let it go to your head. Continue to study your craft and strive to get better daily.

Let those rejections roll off, because just like in the novels, the heroine always ends up with the right guy.

When Blogging Friends Get Agents

Happy dance! Blogging friend Amy Sonnichsen from The Green Bathtub landed herself an agent!! Head over to her blog and share in her excitement!!

When one of our own is offered representation and is one step closer to getting their work on a shelf, I'm so energized and inspired. It really really is possible. We just can't give up! Keep writing!

Congratulations, Amy!! And thanks for inspiring the rest of us to keep going!

Agent Query List

2010 Goal Tracking:

Writing progress: agent list
Weight progress: keeping with the schedule!
Bible in a year progress: Genesis 21-23, Psalm 9

After months and months of research and weeding out, I've finally got my agent list together for queries! I have all their information organized on a spreadsheet and ranked according to what they're looking for. My "high" priorities include the agents seeking both women's fiction and young adult, because I'm pretty sure I will write YA sometime soon. And JUST IN CASE I'm able to snag an agent for Between the Letters, I'd like them to handle YA also. I have a top ten that for one reason or another I got particularly attached to during the research process, two of which I'm alsmost positive I will get a little teary if they don't request sample chapters. I figure I'll try these 10 first, then work my way down the list every couple of weeks or so. What really irks me is that almost every agent requires something different for the query. Some just want the query letter, some want that plus a full synopsis, some need you to actually MAIL it to them and include a SASE even though that doesn't even gaurantee you a response.... And ALL of them have that very discouraging disclaimer - "We accept very few new clients so that we can focus on the needs of our current authors." Well, at some point, SOMEONE has to add a new client.

I have one more (hopefully) major edit of Between the Letters, and should be ready to query by end of January/beginning of February. And my birthday is in February, so how cool would that be to get a full manuscript request by then?! (Wishful thinking, yes, but it's my birthday so I'll wish what I like, thanks. lol)

And about this agent list of mine...there are only 63 of them. Am I being too picky? I've read that I shouldn't stop until i get 150-200 rejections but, where is everybody finding all of these people to query???
Maybe my condition that they must represent both women's fiction and YA is keeping the number down? But that's something I shouldn't really compromise on, or else I'll either have to talk this hypothetical agent of mine into selling a YA project, or switch...

What have/are you done/doing about the research stage. What standards do you look for? WHERE do you look?