I Did It

Okay, I did it. I truly did it.

Writing Pearl Edda has been quite the adventure. Two years ago, an idea came into my head and I was forced to spew it out on the computer.

What did I know about writing a book?

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Except that I always have known (well at least since 5th or 6th grade) that I loved YA books.

So, it really was no surprise that the story that came out of me was not meant for adults (although I've heard that adults like it), but for the young adult crowd.

What was surprising is that a book, a story, a complete novel was in me.

Me.

So I wrote. And wrote. And wrote some more.

And then I queried.

To those of you who are like me two years ago and don't know a whole lot about the publishing world, after one writes a book, if one wants to publish said book, one must find an agent to pitch the book to publishing houses.

A year and a half ago, I sent my first query. To Kristen Nelson (Hi, Kristen!). She promptly rejected it. Why? Probably many reasons, but the main reason is that the manuscript was not ready. Truly not ready. Embarrassingly not ready. (Sorry, Kristen.)

And I started to revise. And revise. And revise.

All the while, querying. (You're right, I didn't learn...Well, maybe I learned a lot through the process. Actually, I'm sure I did.)

Last summer, an agent requested the full manuscript. I whooped and hollered (afterall, I was in Montana at the time). And then she said no. But not really no.

Just a it's-too-long-I-can't-sell-it no.

Hmmmm....

So I revised. And revised. And revised.

And emailed that it was better if she wanted to read it again. And she responded with a yes, and she reread it, and she still thought it was too long. (I agreed.)

So she sent me to an editor. A really good editor. An editor who worked for a publishing house. An editor who gets glowing endorsements from authors.

And I emailed Pearl to him this evening.

And now I wait.

I can't believe I did it.

query contest

Authonomy update: 93 :)

Nathan Bransford, an agent with Curtis Brown, is doing a contest this week. Basically he asked for his blog followers to send in a query and the first 30 pages of their manuscript. He randomly chose five (I didn't make the random cut. Bummer.), and posted them on his blog for voting.

It's a lot harder than it seems, and I don't think I will sign up to be an agent any time soon.

All five queries are good. One completely stood out to me. But I would have a hard time choosing.

Tomorrow he is posting the 30 pages of each, and then he is having a discussion about what they discover on Thursday.

He is an agent that I would love to work with, but I'm obviously waiting until after Thursday's discussion before sending a query his way.

If you want to follow the contest: http://blog.nathanbransford.com

I can't get it to link, but you can also click on his name on the Blogs I Like list.