Sage, Seer, or Something else (My Weird Calm)

You might not know this, but I’m a little bit psychic.  No, not really, but among some of my writing friends, we made a joke that I was upgraded from Sage to Seer.  There are times when I just have a really good feeling about the day and then get a bunch of requests.  Or the time I said on our website, two days before Christmas, something about the next person to get an agent and added, “<looks at Elissa>,” and two posts later Elissa was posting about how a certain agent (who is now representing her) e-mailed her to tell her how much she loved the book and wanted to read another one of hers to see if it was more commercial.   Just to be clear, Elissa was not the only person querying or with requests, I just had a good feeling that she would be next.

Of course, sometimes I let my excitement get ahold of me.  Sometimes I’m really getting impatient, and so I just announce, “Today someone has to offer.”  Of course that doesn’t happen.  Also there are times, like two weeks ago when an agent sounded so excited about my novel that I was convinced she was going to read it overnight.  I convinced myself that I was getting an agent the next day.  I was sure I was getting one.  I knew it.  Obviously, that didn’t happen.  In fact, that was a pretty bad day (have I mentioned how I set off the house alarm on my Roomie and how our gutter fell off our house, taking part of the wall with it?  Yeah, that was the same day).  But it wasn’t a real prediction.  It was just excitement.

This Friday, however, I was driving to work, and I just felt this sense of calm and this warmth in my stomach.  And even after I decided that it meant good news for me, I didn’t let nerves or excitement get the best of me.  I just felt that glow in my stomach and calm.

Well, I got three requests that day.

And that’s pretty exciting.  But ever since then, I’ve kept this calm.  I haven’t felt the glow, but I’ve just settled down after two weeks of being stressed and overreacting to every e-mail and being convinced that it’s going to happen soon.  Inbox (1) still excites me, but it doesn’t cause me heart attacks like it had been before.

And, lol, I had planned for this next post to be about confirmation e-mails, and my appreciation of them, but how they were giving me heart attacks, but then the heart attacks stopped, so I told you about that instead.

So anyway, hopefully the calm continues…and my next good news prediction brings me an agent.

Lots of love,

Sage

Why I Love to Query (even when I sometimes hate it)

Let’s start off by saying that I have a love-hate relationship with querying.  And that when I first started, I really, really hated doing it.  I was slow, I was trying to super-personalize everything, it would take me all day to send two queries (or, let’s be honest, a week to send one), and they’d either never come back or be a form rejection.

These days I personalize based on the agent’s guidelines and add in something special if there’s an extra little connection between us, but I don’t go to all the trouble that I did for those first AFTRLYF queries.  I’m still a slow querier, and when you have two novels with fulls out there when you start querying a third, it becomes really difficult to manage which agents and agencies you can query.  Plus I do all the research: check them out on Absolute Write, make sure their guidelines are the same on their website as on Agent Query, see if they actually have sold books in my genre (I’ve learned my lesson), etc.  So now it takes me all evening to do, say, five queries, which is what I usually aim for in any given batch of queries, but that’s a lot better than a week to do one.

The other day, I posted “Inbox (1),” my ode to the heart-attack I get for each e-mail.  It’s fun getting requests, and those definitely outweigh the disappointment of query rejections.  Response has been a little slow for Fireflies, but that’s okay because it’s been really positive (if anyone’s wondering, I have 3 requests and 5 rejections–that’s an excellent request rate), and I know that January is a big querying month.  But I realized last night that the thrill of requests isn’t why I really love querying.

It’s because the agents are almost celebrities to some writers, and I’ve become a part of their world.

If I get a request, and the agent is on twitter, well, now I have a reason to follow them, wondering if they’re talking about me when they’re reading a submission.  Some agents do a #YAlitchat where authors can ask questions.  The other day I joined the speakeasy in a chat room afterwards, and chatting so casually with an agent was pretty awesome.  I have a reason to follow a certain agent’s lists of agents on twitter, looking for news or new agents to query.  As an author, I always cared what agents have to say, but now I really care. 

They might be reading Fireflies/Trouble/Love Sucks right now.

Publishing World, Sage is a part of you.

Inbox (1)

I’ve posted this on Yapping about YA, but since I just started querying Fireflies (yay), I’m going to repost it because I know what’s coming.  I’ve already received one very exciting e-mail since starting to query (it was something for me to beta–even knowing it was coming, it was exciting).   Here’s what I can look forward to over the next few weeks (not just from 10 queries, but from various fulls out there):

Oh, Gmail,

How that little (1) can send my heart into palpitations. How I can’t resist the lure of that shiny new e-mail. How much you promise me two days after I status queried about a full. How I anticipate that you may have news on a request, even though the sender’s name says “intern,” and I know no agent with my manuscript has yet sent me anything through interns. This could be the time. There could be a reason. I click, anxiously, wondering what news you bring. Hoping you are not the dream agent who’s had my full novel for three months and would only send through interns if she was form rejecting. I hold my breath….

Hmm, a query rejection from an agency I barely remember querying. Oh, Gmail, how you have fooled me with that precious (1). I shall not be fooled agai–

Oh, my! “Inbox (1).” My heart skips a beat.

Lots of love,

Sage