The (awful) Good Ole Days & #New Books!

I would never want a fellow writer or writer-friend to suffer.

But looking back, I'm almost a tiny bit glad I suffered through the experience of Query Purg(-atory). And I almost wish all writers did.

What is wrong with me, and why would I ever say such a thing?

Well, let me break it down for those who might not know (or remember)...

Query Purg used to be the only way to get published. It was a long slog of sending a query letter to a literary agent and then having to wait, in horrible radio-silence for six weeks (or more!) ...

To see if you made it to the next round: A request for more or all of your manuscript! (Yay!!!)

And then it started all over again. Waiting... as much as another two months--sometimes longer.

The bad news I learned was once you did land an agent, it just started all over again. The agent sends it to editors, and another round of waiting begins.

It's possible the query process is the most sophisticated method of torture ever invented.

BUT! if it weren't for Query Purg, I would never have ventured online to find support. I would never have found Janet Reid, I would never have started this blog, we would never have found each other!

Or maybe we would've? Now I'm thinking of that Sliding Doors post I did a while back.

Anyway, my whole point is that while I'm so happy the self-publishing revolution has (almost) made Query Purgatory a mere (horrible) memory, I feel sorry for these new writer-friends who'll never have that great bonding experience that brought so many of us together.

Hmm... or maybe I'm just looking for the bright side of life. Who knows? All I know is I'm glad to know you guys, and I'm glad something wonderful came out of a super-difficult time in my life.

Now for the new books!

First is a new Craft book by an experienced Editor and one of my first writer-friends, Jessica Bell. Jessica is the co-publishing editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and the director of the Homeric Writers’ Retreat & Workshop on the Greek island of Ithaca.

She's SUPER qualified--here's the scoop: Too many adverbs and clichés in your writing? I've got just the fix for you.

On Amazon

Writers constantly have rules thrown at them left, right, and center. Show, don’t tell! Stop using so many dialogue tags! More sensory detail! More tension! Speed up the pace!

I used to feel overwhelmed by it all too. In fact, I still do sometimes. It’s hard enough to get the words on the page, let alone consider how to put them there.

My name’s Jessica Bell, and my own struggles with feeling overwhelmed inspired me to write the Writing in a Nutshell Series of pocket-sized writing guides. So you can learn to hone your craft in bite-sized, manageable pieces.

In the first book of the series, I focused on demonstrating how to transition “telling” into “showing.”

In Adverbs & Clichés in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Subversions of Adverbs & Clichés into Gourmet Imagery, you will find thirty-four examples of prose which clearly demonstrate how to turn those pesky adverbs and clichés into vivid and unique imagery.

LTM: This book is fantastic, and Jessica's a SUPER teacher. Get it today, and get writing!

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Ca | Kobo

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Next up, super-sweet and talented writer-friend Cassie Mae has a contemporary New Adult novel coming out this July, and I'm participating in the gorgeous Cover Reveal!

Drum Roll please.....

Get me

Is that gorgeous or what? Here's the blurb...

In the wealthy town of Sundale, Kelli Pinkins has hatched the perfect plan to capitalize on her sweet reputation. For a generous fee, she will be every trust-fund baby’s dream: a Friday-night alibi, the “girlfriend” or “BFF” parents dream about. 

With college approaching in the fall, Kelli’s services are in demand more than ever, which means that her social life is nonexistent. But Kelli is A-okay with that. She’s raking in cash for school. Besides, relationships are tricky, and sometimes very messy. She’d rather be at home on Xbox LIVE, anyway. 

Then the unexpected happens: She meets college stud Chase Maroney.

Chase isn’t like the preppy, privileged guys Kelli usually meets in Sundale. For starters, he’s twentysomething, always wears black, and he shoots back one-liners as fast as she can dish them out. But Kelli’s attempts to drive Chase away falter when she realizes that he treats her like he really knows her, like he cares about knowing her. 

When Kelli finally gives in to the delicious kiss she’s been fighting for so long, she faces a tough decision: make Chase a real-life boyfriend and risk her heart . . . or keep her clients and lose her first true love.

LTM: Squee!!! I absolutely loved Cassie's first book Reasons I Fell for the Funny Fat Friend (link), and this one promises to be just as great!

It's available for pre-order today--CLICK HERE!

* * *

Last, but in no way least, fellow Indelibles sister GP Ching has released the latest in her SoulKeepers series!

I love the sound of this installment as well as the cover, and as your reward for hanging to the end here, enter to #WIN a $100 Amazon Gift Card (link)!

On Amazon

Dane Michaels has been to Hell and back and isn't interested in repeating the experience. 

But as a human caught up in the Soulkeeper's world, his life isn't exactly his own. No one can explain why Dane was allowed through the gates of Eden, but it has changed everything. Now, the only one who can make him feel safe is Ethan, the telekinetic Soulkeeper with a dark past and a heart of gold.

When Malini asks Dane to be part of a mission to find the last Soulkeeper, Cheveyo, more than one team member thinks she's tempting Fate. 

But Malini suspects Fate has had a hand in Dane's life for some time and that he could be the key to unraveling Lucifer's latest plan of attack.

Amazon |  iTunes | Nook | Kobo | Smashwords

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That's it for me, reader- and writer-friends! I'm out of the cave, Dragonfly is on GoodReads (click here to add it!) and starting tomorrow, I'll be sharing excerpts and teasers leading up to the June 6 release date! SO exciting.

Have a super week~ <3

Me on Publishing and Some Cover Love

[Note: I've got a short post over on the Indelibles blog (link) today. But it's not about me! It's about my good writer-friend Ali Cross and her new Writer's Dojo! Check it out~]

Now for this post... Because lord knows, we all need another opinion on what's happening in publishing.

Get me!

I stumbled into self-publishing with a little book the traditional guys all rejected (The Truth About Faking, link), and had a shockingly good experience.

Then I followed it up with a book the traditional guys wanted (Rouge, link), and had what I think is the typical self-publishing experience.

So I don't consider myself expert on all this. (If you want an expert, see my good writer-friend Susan Quinn, link). But I listen a lot. And I observe a lot. And I tend to be excessively analytical at times.

Some observers have noted that self-publishing seems to be the new query letter. I think there's validity in that argument.

I disagree with observers who think traditional publishing is going away. When I interviewed Tammara Webber here last summer (link), she made a great point: Traditional publishers haven't been doing this for as long as they have to not know what they're doing. (I paraphrased--she said it better. LOL!)

Gigantic bookstores are probably going away, which is a little scary. But if it means smaller bookstores will begin to thrive, I like it. I just hope they'll be open to indies...

When I was offered my traditional ebook only deal Spring 2012, it was identical to a "nice" traditional print deal. Now, advances and royalty rates coming off of indie sales are way more writer-friendly.

You even have successful indies like Hugh Howey or Coleen Hoover keeping their ebook rights altogether and signing traditional print-only deals. (Which I say is brilliant!)

I do know a ton of writer-friends are embracing self-publishing, and it's lost almost all of its former stigma. Even with once-anti-self-publishing curmudgeons like myself.

When I put TTAF out there, I thought of it like a little paper boat floating down this fast-moving stream, rounding curves, hitting rapids, wobbling, and I was just standing on the bank watching it, holding my breath, waiting to see if it would stay afloat.

That's kind of how I feel about what's going on in publishing right now. We're in a hugely transitional time in the business, and I don't think anybody can predict what will happen next. I think it's good to stay flexible, try different things, do what works for you, and hold on!

And good luck to all my writer-friends, traditional, indie, or some weird hybrid mix like me. I'd love to hear what you guys think!

Now, bring on the covers!

First, my great Indelible writer-friend G.P. Ching (link) has a gorgeous new installment coming in her Soulkeepers series (#4). I agreed to share the word on it--and just look at the cover (below)...

Soul Catcher, Soulkeepers #4 description:

Add me!

Dane Michaels has been to Hell and back and isn't interested in repeating the experience. But as a human caught up in the Soulkeeper's world, his life isn't exactly his own. 

No one can explain why Dane was allowed through the gates of Eden, but it's changed everything. Now, the only one who can make him feel safe is Ethan, the telekinetic Soulkeeper with a dark past and a heart of gold.

When Malini asks Dane to be part of a mission to find the last Soulkeeper, Cheveyo, more than one team member thinks she's tempting Fate. But Malini suspects Fate has had a hand in Dane's life for some time and that he could be the key to unraveling Lucifer's latest plan of attack.

Add it on Goodreads (link)!


Finally, the ebook version of Rouge (link) has a new look. You can see it on the sidebar and below.

Get me!

I'm also highlighting the romantic suspense and coming of age elements of the story more to reader-friends.

What do you think?

[Note: The original cover will remain on the print version of Rouge (link), so don't despair fans of that look.]

My brilliant cover-designer and writer-friend Jolene Perry (link) had the idea for this new one, and since she's my covergirl, we're giving it a go, trying something new for fun!

Have a great week, reader- and writer-friends~ <3

Orson Welles Says Wait

I'm about to share some advice I haven't completely internalized myself. There's two-parts, so here's #1: Publishing is the slowest business on Earth. (I've got that.)

#2: It's OK for me to slow down, too.

Gah! That's the part I can't internalize.

We live in a super fast-paced society, right? Everything is instant gratification, and no one should be made to wait for anything. It's bad business, and it's bad for business. That's how we're trained since childhood.

I have the added disadvantage of coming to this game from a primarily print-news background. It's actually good and bad.

Source

It's great because I have loads of discipline about meeting deadlines and getting stuff done. Staying on point, crafting strong ledes.

It's bad because news is one of the fastest businesses on the planet.

Even worse, I worked about 18 months in television news, which moves at the speed of light.

OK, maybe more like sound, but I'm just saying. In television, if it happened today, and you didn't get it on by 10 p.m., it's Old News.

I know, exaggerate much? Actually, No. I don't.

So then I got it in my head to try and write a book. And lo and behold, I did it! Oh my god!

About half-way through, when I realized it might actually happen, I shot off a ten thousand-word equery to Dan Lazar at Writers House all about how I was a published journalist, I was writing this book, and he was going to love it once it was done. Oh, why him? Meh, I picked his name off the list because I'd heard Writers House was good, and he took equeries. The end.

Ten points to Gryffindor if you can name everything I did wrong in that paragraph.

As time passed, I got feedback from some agents that my very first book needed revision. Pretty significantly. Perhaps if I hadn't equeried 500 agents at once, I could've addressed that.

But no worries! I wrote a few more books and ultimately I did get an agent. Now I'm looking at revisions for the book we're about to send out.

And you know the advice I've been given? Take your time. Get it right.

For me, that is the hardest lesson. Slow down. Let it sit a few days and then go back to it with fresh eyes. Pick it up again, polish it some more, make it better.

Good books, like good wine, take time. Take it from our boy Orson. Once it's out there, it's out there. No taking it back.

Why not make it as good as it can be before releasing it?

Personally, I want it to happen now, now, NOW! But I bet we can all name books that would've benefited from a few more weeks (or months) in the barrel.

Have a great week, reader- and writer-friends! <3

Always and Forever...

So I write contemporary young adult romance, right? Well, how many of you have seen a teenager these days who wasn't texting? I'm not sure how many are Facebookin it. Email? Myspace? Doubtful.

My point is, we're all aware of the glacial pace of book publishing and the lightening-fast speed of technology.

With that in mind, I try to avoid new slang in dialogue as much as possible--opting for the established, "cool," "hot," etc., over whatever they're saying on iCarly or Victorious. (I know some of you clever kids make up your own slang...)

But what about technology? 

In the book I'm currently shopping, all the characters have phones that they use both to talk and to text. Otherwise, technology is not in the story. (Actually, now I'm wondering if they should be using iPod Touches like all the kids running around here, but jeez, I don't even want to get that specific.)

I think it works, but I'm curious. What do you guys think? How are you handling this?

* * *

In other news, my friend Matt Rush is helping my other friend (and Super-critter) Carolyn Abiad with her query letter today at The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment (link).

Carolyn has written this amazing adventure story Burnt Amber that's set in Turkey--and in the realm of genies. It's got a strong female MC, a hot male protag., sword fights, spells, alternate realms. It's awesome! And she's a great writer. And a good friend.

Her blog Serendipity (link) is sort of a companion piece to the book, so check it out and start following her. Most of all, please run over to Matt's and help her out! Or at least give her some encouraging kudos.

Finally, THANK YOU to all my bleeps who've recently given me awards. I love you all, but specifically Dezzy (our Hollywood Spy), Angela, Tara, Jeannie, Gideon... oh, and everyone else over there on the right --->

(((BIG hugs))) and have a great weekend, reader friends! Til Monday~ <3 

Author-Agent Match dot com

OK, so originally this post was going to be something about the oil spill.

I've been thinking about our beaches and growing up in south Louisiana, living on the Alabama Gulf Coast, having family in Mississippi, a brother in south Florida. We're all virtually joining hands in this crisis praying it can be resolved with as little damage as possible.

Then I got a form rejection on a query letter for Brand New Novel from an agent who, according to her stated interests, should've at least wanted to read a little more... It's OK, I wasn't that upset. (big lie)

I can say I was pleasantly surprised that after only a few test letters, I got a full MS request from an extremely nice and reputable agent I interacted with on Debut Novel. (whee!) She seems like a neat person to work with. I'll keep you posted as that unfolds.

So since it all comes back to the books, I was thinking about how the agent search is a lot like using Match dot com to find a date/potential mate. (Never used MDC, but I'm betting it is...)

I read somewhere a caution to writers to approach selecting an agent even more carefully than you would your husband/wife. That seems a little extreme, but I get it. This person is going to have a huge role in my career path, and as most agent-author relationships involve contracts, there's a similarity.

So here's how it works (and those of you who've used MDC, see what you think):

The search is 98 percent online now--almost everybody's wanting to be green, and it sure saves on postage, so I'm all for it. You set out, aspiring novelist, finished novel in hand (teeth brushed, coolest outfit), and you head over to Query Tracker to set up your dbase/do a search for agents seeking your genre.

QT has links to agency websites and agent email addresses--even a comments section from queriers as to how fast they respond or if they do.

I'm sure this is some Big Brother means of tracking the habits of aspiring novelists and plotting trends in the industry, but I Don't Care. The fellas who designed and maintain QT (which is free, btw) are Heroes.

The list is made (profiles matched), so you pick about seven you'd like to ask on a date (i.e., send a query).

Pause.

I once read a long blog post about how a bad agent's worse than no agent at all--possiblly worse than never being published. (gasp!) I can't remember where that was or I'd give you a link.

So how do you know if this person you're about to ask out/possibly marry's crazy or not? What if you get an offer from the literary agent equivalent of Glen Close in Fatal Attraction?

Run over to Absolute Write Watercooler for the skinny. It's an online forum of writers who post about agent behaviors. Sometimes agents even drop in for interviews or to update threads about themselves. It's basically like your group of girlfriends, although I feel like the total guy in this scenario.

You can also Google the agent's name to see if he/she has a blog or has been interviewed recently by many of the helpful agent-interview blogs out there (e.g., Guide to Literary Agents, Literary Rambles, etc.)

For me, even after all this homework, it's been very hit or miss.

I've gotten several form rejections from agents who specifically state they're seeking what my novel is. I've gotten several partial requests from the same. And the I've gotten full requests (the home run) from agents both specifically seeking it and from some I've queried because I liked books they handled or their agency, regardless of whether they were specifically seeking what I'd written.

I've gotten the no call the day after treatment. I've gotten the surprise positive follow-up from the date you didn't think went so well...

And then I discovered Agents on Twitter. Can I just say, following AOT is a big mistake.

I know it helps us keep track of them 24/7, but when they start tweeting about queries, it's a lot like being the guy who overhears the group of girls discussing a bad date when you've just gone out with one of them.

They never tweet the name of offending querier, but you just KNOW they're talking about you.

Or then you have the agent who tweets that she just had the most amazing cookie at some NYC bakery while hanging with the Shark (Janet Reid), and you're thinking, "Why are you hanging out with the Shark eating cookies and not reading my partial???"

The best are the tweets from the agent who's so disappointed because she never gets the MS she really, really wants. Or the one who proposed to an author who'd already gotten married. But based simply on a query, not on reading the full...

Naturally, I hopped over to her profile to see if I should ask her out! I discovered she's seeking exactly what DN is! I tentatively send her a "Would you like to go out with me?" query and get back the insta-slap. The "Dear Author..." form reject.

LTM: (Puzzled frown, rubbing cheek) I guess she was still in mourning...

They should start using "John" instead of "Author" in those. Just to inject a little humor.

If all this sounds bitter, I've failed. It's totally not meant to. I'm actually extremely optimistic, and I've gotten super feedback on Brand New Novel.

The agent search is frustrating, but I still think it's way better than sending my MS off to the slushpile of four major publishing houses and hoping for the best. And I very much appreciate the fast-responding agents, positive or negative.

It's just the entire process brings to mind that Fountains of Wayne song "Someone to Love." (You knew there'd be a musical tie-in.)

I'm Seth. Agent Seeking Exactly What BNN Is, But Who Sends "Dear Author" Form Reject To My Query can play the role of Beth. Pay careful attention to the taxi interaction... Here's the link to the song.

Onward and upward, reader friends! Oh, and some Happy Mother's Day recipes (my contribution is #3).

Undah Pres-sha

First, took the girls to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie yesterday, and it was a hoot! I was glad I'd read the first half of the book aloud at bedtime with them before going. It helped me be ready for the jokes.

It's also had the added benefit of keeping me from getting the "cheese touch" at the playground lo these many weeks. (Note to reading Moms: crossing your fingers on both hands grants you immunity.)

So what's all this about pressure? Well, it's tough, I tell ya. Waiting to hear back from favorite agents, waiting to hear back on queries that are lurking out there in the far silent reaches of queryville... It's pretty easy to become self-absorbed.

But an interesting, very recent turn of events got me to thinking about life on the other side of the wall.

I know, I'm making you guys gag, but I have a tendency to try and get into the head of the "other guy" in situations like these. I try to imagine what could be going on in his/her brain and why she is (or in this case isn't) doing what I think she ought to be doing. (Like going crazy over Debut Novel!)

It just so happens there's a particular agency out there that has represented just about every book I've ever loved. OK, that's a grand, sweeping statement that isn't entirely true. But they've handled a lot of them.

And in my little pea brain way back last year, I thought it would be just amazing to have my book in there with all those other ones I loved. So before I'd even finished writing Debut Novel, I shot a query to one of their junior agents.

Rut-roh!

Did I mention I've learned all about *breaking* into publishing by being the proverbial bull in the china closet?

Well, at the top of all Agency No-No lists is this (it's usually like #1 or #2): Never, NEVER query an agent until your novel's finished.

I learned the Why behind that rule as I actually finished Debut Novel and saw how it changed and evolved as I wrote it. I told Richard, if anything, the experience of writing an entire book really stretched me as a writer who's accustomed to doing quick, in and out news stories.

I learned how books can take off as you write them and head down different paths than you expected. Things you weren't really paying attention to before can become very important, and characters you thought were going to be minor can become major.

It's a lot of fun! It also makes going back and re-reading a few weeks after finishing super important.

So too bad for inexperienced me, junior agent at Dream Agency kicked my little query to the curb. I'd violated Rule #1 (sometimes #2 behind "spell agent's name correctly.") No hard feelings; his assistant was super nice about it.

I tucked my little devastated tail and kept writing. Also, most importantly, I kept researching. And I discovered another potential agent at Dream Agency who might, might be interested in my novel. (However, I'd also learned at this point to finish the dang thing before querying again.)

So I wrote wrote wrote, and kept my eye on second Ms. Junior Agent. But as I watched, I noted an interesting evolution in the tone of her advice to potential queriers.

When I found her in, let's say November, (OK, it was October, but I was eager!), she was very happy, "I love agenting. I'm seeking that novel I can't put down." To queriers, she wanted to see a personalized query letter and the first ten pages of the book.

Then I found an interview with her in January in which she lamented the staggering number of queries she was receiving (as many as 200/wk), and noted that maybe one day she'd have an assistant.

By late-February, her requirements had dropped to query letter, first page of your book.

And there was a definite tone.

I still had my eye on Ms. Junior Agent, but I waited. I had just sent out a batch of queries, and the rule is to wait several weeks and give folks time to get back to you.

That part's extremely hard. Especially when you read interviews in which agents say they "get back quickly" when they're interested. It's also hard when you have those agencies who say you won't hear back if they aren't interested. (Who's holding the clock?)

And then there's the agent who Tweets the following: "Everyone who queried me before Feb. 8, if you haven't heard back from me, consider yourself rejected."

That agent needs to have her portrait made into a dart board.

So on Friday, after refreshing the Gmail for the 5,000th time, I wandered over to see what Ms. Junior Agent was up to and found a strange notice. She had quit Dream Agency and seemed to have gone "off the radar."

It was odd. I felt like I knew her after reading all the interviews, planning my letter that would be personalized just for her and even going back and forth on whether my half-page Prologue should be included with my query now that she was down to "first page only" status.

The wheels in my little imaginative writer's brain were nudged into motion. What could have happened? Did she become so disillusioned that she ran screaming from the building? Maybe she stormed out one day amid a cyclone of unpersonalized query letters and first pages of manuscripts that did not fall into her stated preferences.

Maybe she looked at the sea of 200+ queries coming in week after week embodying the dreams of all those aspiring novelists and the mountain became too much for Mohammed. Maybe she just got sick of waiting on that assistant.

I like to imagine my query might've given her hope. (Eh, who knows.)

Perhaps she could be a character in New Novel. Something like the disillusioned junior agent who meets the singing goose artist who refuses to allow post-production to take place on her bare-bones recorded tracks.

They leave their fields of choice to go off in search of adventure and perhaps even to save the world. Maybe they fight crimes.

Anyway, it was interesting to me as I continue waiting. I realized there just might be pressure on both sides of this wall.

Silence is Golden

No it's not. Silence sucks. It also blows. It's a freak of nature. And it especially blows when you're waiting to hear back about how fabulously awesome Debut Novel is...

I know, I know. I've read the writers' self-help blogs. Publishing is a waiting game. You have to be patient and learn to take no news as good news. (insert exclamation point)

But you see, I'm a talker. I really like to chat chat chat, primarily about me me me and how great my book is.

I got so bored yesterday I queried O. J. Berman.

Yep, I did! I'm sorry!

Who's he, you ask? He's the agent who is (writing) world-renowned for his fast response to queries. The man LIVES in front of the computer screen. (Says the girl who hasn't showered today.)

I think he was looking for some legal thriller or a noir mystery to turn into a movie. That was close enough for me, so I shot him my letter. He shot me back a very nice "not really what I'm looking for," but it took him ALMOST THREE HOURS!

You're slippin, O. J.

I know, that's not the way to break into publishing. That's the way to end up on Gawker.

I know I said I was mending my bull-in-the-publishing-china-closet ways (see Debut Post). But it's hard. It's super hard. And what's even super hardest about it is that my real job, my actual paying gig, requires me to sit here in front of this dang laptop writing articles for the paper or updating bcbe.org. (Yep, that's me that got your name wrong, Elsanor School!)

So I can't just get out and do something else. And every time bcbe.org slows or I'm waiting for a picture to download, that little G-mail icon is right there staring at me, begging me to click it and see if some agent has written back to agree that Yes, I've done it! I've written the best work of commercial YA fiction to date, and he/she has my six-figure, multi-book deal all polished up and ready for my signature!

I was researching potential YA agents on a great blog for such things the other day (caseylmccormick.blogspot.com), and I read this great bit of advice from one of them: "Don’t act crazy. It’s harder than you think, but agents hate crazy people."

That actually made me LOL! In a crazy-laugh sort of way.

It reminded me of Pee Wee's Big Adventure and the meeting in PW's basement where he's got the little model of the shopping mall and he's saying, "Some questions get answered, others appear. It's like a giant sweater that someone keeps knitting... he-he-and knitting... he-he-and knitting..."

OK, I'm meeting a friend for lunch. Hopefully she won't have me committed.

Final thought: If you didn't get the agent joke, I have a homework assignment. First, google "O.J. Berman." Next, go to your local video store (or get on Netflix)...  Last, enjoy!

Getting Started

It's funny, no matter how much time passes, I don't think you ever forget the tension of breaking into a new field. It's frustrating and difficult, and often you wonder why you're putting yourself through all this. What was wrong with what you were previously doing?

I was in college at Louisiana State University when I discovered that there were paying jobs for people who simply "liked to read and write." Jobs besides teaching or newspaper reporting, I mean.

I was a student assistant for Dr. Jim Borck when this epiphany occurred. "Jimbo" as we affectionately called him was director of graduate studies for the LSU English Department and general editor of the Eighteenth Century: A Current Bibliography.

The ECCB. Talk about a snoozer! It's actually a reference book published annually listing books being written today on the eighteenth century. Confused yet? It's apparently really helpful if you're one of the 50 college professors who specialize in that time period in literature.

But content notwithstanding, working in that office with all those cool, creative nerds who shared my interests, and then getting that published copy of Vol. 12, I fell in love with the whole process.

I enrolled in graduate school and took "The Business of Book Publishing" taught by Katherine Fry, who was the director (I think) of LSU Press. She was a really great teacher. And after finishing that class I promptly switched my focus to public relations. Not really.

Back to my first thought--breaking into the business. Despite the fact that I decided to become an editor, I still lived in the petroleum and engineering capital of Louisiana. And other than LSU Press, a very, very small academic publisher with an astonishingly low turnover rate, or the Advocate, there weren't many jobs out there. Almost none, actually. And quite a large number of nerds just like me fighting to get them. (LSU grads tend to like staying in Baton Rouge.)

So as I wasn't planning to move to a major city, I had to figure out some way to distinguish myself from the other penguins. By sheer luck (and bugging the crap out of Dr. Jay Perkins in the LSU J-school), I managed to get one clip in the Business Report, which was extremely helpful. Then I just had to wait for the occasional want ad that would appear from time to time for that rare local businesses that needed an editor.

Months later, I finally landed my first job as Director of the Editorial Department at Insurance Achievement, Inc. It was a tough job working for a punishing boss, but I stuck it out. And I met some amazing, cool writers and editors who became part of my circle of friends back home.

Nine months later, I landed one of those coveted editorial jobs in the ranks of the LSU "unclassified" employees. The salary was pretty meager, but the benefits were top-notch. College holidays, two weeks "free" vacation at Christmas, ginormous-group healthcare plan, access to that gated parking lot right across the street from The Chimes...

It took a few years to get there, but it happened.

Then I moved to Shreveport and then to Indianapolis, where I became a mom, left the editorial game and focused on freelance writing alone. For a year covering 2008-2009, I went back to editing for Baldwin County Parent magazine, which is now Baldwin County Living. And then Fall 2009 the unthinkable happened. I sat down and wrote a book. Two and a half, actually. A series.

Knock me over with a feather.

Now I'm trying to break into another new field, and I tell ya. It's tough. Possibly as tough as landing a job as an editor in Baton Rouge pre-Katrina. But I'm encouraged when I remember it eventually happened and how many cool, nice people I met along the way.

I'm currently in the process of finding an agent, and it's overwhelming to say the least. If you're in the same boat as me, Nathan Bransford has an incredibly helpful blog that you should check out immediately! Don't send Query 1 before doing so. Learn from my mistake.

Try to take your time. I've learned the hard way, e-querying is not my friend. It was probably better than I'll ever know that those editorial ads appeared months apart when I was trying to break into Field #1. I had no choice but to wait, stare at my "query letter" for weeks, play with it, polish it, talk to people, do reasearch. All of those things are vital in this game.

It's hard, but I'm reminding myself what I've learned: Patience, little donkey.

And while I wait, I hope to connect or re-connect with some amazing, cool people out there doing what I'm doing--editing, writing, trying to get published, being a mom, contradicting your mom and then realizing your mistake...

Here we go~