The End of the Agent Hunt

I have fabulous news to report -- my search for an agent is over! It all ended much more quickly and dramatically than I expected. Two weeks ago, I was worried that I might never sign (yes, I'm impatient -- it often takes years to sign). But then, last Thursday, a totally wonderful agent called me while I was at work to offer representation!

She was already at the top of my list based on her reputation, and her sheer enthusiasm for my work while she offered representation was enough to put her over the top. Still, I've read enough horror stories about failed agent/author relationships to be wary, and so I contacted the other agents who were considering my work to let them know that I had received an offer. By the end of the weekend, two other agents had made offers -- and so as of Memorial Day, I was suddenly in the unexpected position of having to come up with interview questions so that I could choose between the three offers!

I spoke to all of them on Tuesday, and while I felt that all of them could have been good fits for my work (and one in particular was the other top agent on my list, making my choice more difficult), I ultimately decided that the first agent was the best fit for my long-term goals. I mailed the contracts on Friday, and we're talking again this week to discuss the process for submissions to publishing houses.

So, it's been a complete whirlwind, and obviously I'm very excited. However, I realized while I was on the phone with one of them that I've successfully scaled the agent mountain and reached the peak -- only to discover that there's another, bigger mountain looming in the form of beginning the search for a publisher. Happily, my agent (I love saying that!) will be my partner on that climb, so I'm not alone -- but this is by no means a done deal. I spent the weekend brooding over that sobering fact, but I can't brood for long; the excitement of continuing to make progress towards my goals will pick me up again.

This means that, as of tonight, "The Agent Hunt" will be retired as a label -- staring this week, "The Publisher Hunt" will begin! Stay tuned...

Betrothals and Marriage Contracts

When I'm writing, I usually just put "[CHECK]" at the end of a sentence when I'm not sure I have the historical details exactly right, or when I don't want to bother looking up where hemlines and waistlines were in 1811 vs. 1812. However, when I was working on Madeleine and Ferguson's story last night (yes, I wrote after work! score!), I realized I'm at a point in their saga where I need to take a step back and do some research. Fudging the details in a first draft is all well and good when the details relate to a type of fabric; it's a much bigger issue when your whole story hinges on how betrothal contracts worked, because if it turns out they don't work the way you thought they did, your story may never be right again.

So, it's research time for me -- which is too bad, because I really just want to keep writing. But perhaps this is a lesson that I should do this type of research sooner; I knew about one hundred pages ago that this was coming, and if I had discovered then that the twist could not possibly work, I would have written the past hundred pages with another goal in mind. Fingers crossed that the betrothal contract is sound, or I will be one unhappy camper.

Bone Daddy

I had to share this deal that I found in my latest email from Publishers Marketplace:

FICTION: WOMEN'S/ROMANCE
R.G. Alexander's BONE DADDY, a three-novella single-author erotic anthology about a sexually charged voodoo spirit, the people whose bodies he inhabits, and the mischief he creates, to Kate Seaver at Berkley HEAT, for publication in summer 2010, by Roberta Brown of the Brown Literary Agency.

The reason I had to share is because my father, for whatever reason, likes to say "bone daddy" in a rather menacing voice when he's got his electric carving knife out and ready to do some damage to a ham or turkey. Reading this sale announcement and hearing my father's voice in my head saying "bone daddy" has scarred me for life!

Today was fine on the writing front, albeit not fantastic; I wrote ~2000 words, which is less than half of what I wanted to write, but is still eight pages farther along than I was before today. Hopefully I'll get a chance to write tomorrow, but the day job requires some serious attention. Have a lovely Sunday!

Saturday is Writing Day!

I've decided to write all day today -- well, after I blog, of course. And, since I've already been up for almost three hours, perhaps "all day" is an exaggeration. But I'm ignoring the desire to clean, the desire to shop, the desire to see friends, etc., and focusing all of my efforts on Madeleine and Ferguson for the next eight or ten hours.

Hopefully my horoscope for today is accurate:

You are energized in a very real way, for you can see what's ahead if you continue to work hard and plan for your future. But the currents may be speeding up now and this can make you nervous, even if it's also exciting. You want to succeed, but you may be afraid that it won't last if it all happens so fast that you don't have a strong foundation. Don't let your fears get in the way of your success.

Happy Saturday, everyone! By this time tomorrow, Madeleine and Ferguson will be even farther along in their journey towards the happily-ever-after.

Bloom Where You're Planted

While my day job provides many benefits (such as a paycheck) and many frustrations (such as the sixty-plus-hour weekly commitment that pulls me away from my writing), what keeps me going back is my fabulous set of coworkers. I'm very lucky in that I actually enjoy seeing many of the people I work with; there are always the occasional people whom I avoid when I see them walking down the hall, but they are far outnumbered by the people whom I would gladly sacrifice ten minutes of precious worktime to catch up with.

I had a meeting today with one of my direct reports, and the meeting reminded me just how lucky I am to work with these people, and even more importantly how much I just need to figure out how to balance the job and the writing and not get frustrated when either one is not going exactly right. The person I met with was an officer in Iraq and served two tours before leaving the Army and going into the private sector. As we were talking, he mentioned something that his grandmother told him before he left for Iraq -- that it was important to "bloom where you're planted." Isn't that excellent advice? Regardless of whatever situation you end up in, you can still strive to bloom in it.

This is far sappier than I usually get, so I apologize for the uncharacteristic lapse. I will be back to my regularly scheduled snark tomorrow!

My Favorite Things: Hair Tinsel

Occasionally I intend to post things that I currently love. Top of mind (and head, ha) right now is hair tinsel! One of my friends got it last week, and I just had to copy her; I adore sparkly, shiny accessories, and luckily my day job allows me certain freedoms in terms of my ability to occasionally act like I'm sixteen. Since I have never dyed my hair and do not intend to start until the grey starts its inevitable assault, hair tinsel is an appealing option for adding some flare to my hair without damaging it.

Essentially, the tinsel is hair-width metallic fibers that a stylist ties to individual strands of hair near the roots. Once tied in place, the strands stay there until the hairs fall out. The tinsel can be shampooed, styled, blow-dried, etc., just like normal hair -- but I would swoon with ecstasy if my normal hair could ever turn to tinsel on command.

Ten strands of metallic purple tinsel later, and my long brunette hair suddenly has an edge to it that I adore. It's not over-the-top noticeable, but I love when the metallic strands catch the light. While it's not something I would do all the time, I'm pretty sure I will have to do it again for the RWA conference -- perhaps a color to match my Golden Heart Award Ceremony dress?

To see what hair tinsel looks like, check out this site; I got the tinsel put in at a salon in Silicon Valley. Enjoy, and comment if you decide to get tinsel!

One Hundred Days of Write-itude

The Romance Writers of America conference is in less than ten weeks! I wasn't planning to attend this year, but after finding out that AN INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE is a finalist for a Golden Heart award, I immediately changed my mind.

So, I'm going to DC, where I intend to meet the other lovely ladies I'm becoming acquainted with online, attend some great workshops and retreats, sightsee in our nation's capital, and party my heart out until the awards ceremony. But, there is much to do before I get to Washington; while finding a dress and obsessing over shoes will take some significant thought, the main focus is trying to finish the first draft of Madeleine and Ferguson's story. Obviously, I hope that I sell MARRIAGE and that all my wildest dreams come true, but I'm not holding my breath -- and I think I'm on to something special with these characters, so I would like to have a finished draft in time to submit to the 2010 Golden Heart in December.

This is doable; I'm about as far with them right now as I was with Amelia and Malcolm last year, so finishing by December is feasible. It just won't be easy, given the demands of the day job, my summer travel schedule, and all the little things that seem to conspire against me.

My hardcore writing was supposed to start today, but instead I did five loads of laundry, reread segments of a great book (Robin McKinley's CHALICE -- a nice blend of old-timey high fantasy, romance, and beekeeping), and talked to my parents for Mother's Day. But, starting now, I'm recommitting to my hermitage; spending the next hundred (or, hopefully, only seventy) days holed up and working on Madeleine and Ferguson's story should give me something complete enough that I can start working on the second draft after the RWA conference. I will either return elated and eager to get back to the book, or despondent and in need of a distraction, so having something to edit will be key.

You can tell by the length of this post that I'm procrastinating :) No more of that -- it's time to get back to business!

I Love Me Some Star Trek

I didn't expect to love "Star Trek" quite as much as I did, but it had the perfect blend of action, comedy, and character development to kick off the summer movie-going season. And quite unexpectedly, this is the only movie I can remember in which I cried in the first ten minutes.

And if nothing else, I have a new inspiration for my bad-boy heroes -- Chris Pine as Captain Kirk is fabulous! Check him out below...

Broken Glass, Continued

I'm listening to "Walking on Broken Glass" again -- I can't work on the book because I'm at work, and I have a pressing mid-afternoon deadline that I feel loath to meet. I will meet it, of course, but "Walking on Broken Glass" is a good five-minute distraction.

Madeleine and Ferguson will demand much of my time this weekend, but I will still call my mother on Mothers' Day. What are your Mothers' Day plans?

Writing, comma, How Not to Succeed At

The best way, hands down, to not succeed at writing is to never make time to write. And unfortunately, that is the position that I find myself in this week. Despite my best intentions, I have not written since Sunday. Three days is really not such a long break, but I'm so excited to get back to working on Madeleine and Ferguson's story, and so a three- (or more likely, five-) day hiatus is frustrating.

Then again, given the state of the economy in general and my expensive tastes in particular, having a day job is a good thing, even if the day job is keeping me so occupied this week that I can't find time to write. Yes, I could make faster progress on the road to publication if I could devote sixty hours a week to it, but it's hard to slog down that road if you have scurvy because you can only afford to eat ramen. I suppose I could give up my Sephora habit -- but until they develop drugs to help ease the withdrawal pangs I would feel at never buying Nars eyeshadow or Shiseido lipstick again, I'm too hooked to drop it.

What about you? What silly expense are you unwilling to drop?

Ferguson and Madeleine -- the Story (Finally) Continues

I finished editing AN INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE yesterday, and while it would be nice to take a break, there's no rest for the wicked (or rather, no rest for those who dream of publication). So, I woke up early this morning and spent an hour at Starbucks before going into the office so that I could focus on Book Two.

The task for today was to reread what I had written of Ferguson and Madeleine's story so that I can jump back into the first draft where I left off in March. The Golden Heart hoopla and all of the chaos with my day job took its toll on Ferguson and Madeleine, and they've been chilling in limbo for the past six weeks. So imagine my delight when I picked up the manuscript again and realized that I already had 177 pages written; my memory thought that it was ~100 pages, so I'm much further into the book than I thought I was.

Even better, I genuinely like most of what I've written. While there are things that I will need to go back and change (including the addition of a whole bunch of historical detail; the first draft is full of incomplete phrases like, "Madeleine paused, savoring the taste of [taste] on her tongue," where I've used brackets to indicate a missing detail that I need to figure out), I'm very happy with the characters themselves. In fact, I adore them both and want only the best for them, and so I'm going to have to embrace the dark side while I put them through another 200 pages of torment before granting their happily-ever-after.

I'll keep you posted on their progress, but sleep is vital if I'm going to help them along their merry way tomorrow...

Here Comes the Rain Again

It is another cold and rainy weekend in San Francisco. It's unclear to me what SF has done to offend the weather gods, but for whatever reason, it feels like the weeks are nice and the weekends are not so nice. Obviously I would prefer to have it be the other way around, but I suppose there is something to be said for the "inspiration" the rain provides for my British-set romance novels.

I'm still slogging through edits for AN INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE, but I believe that I can be done tonight. Then it's back to the grind in multiple capacities -- both in my day job, which will be somewhat intense this week, and in my writing job, which demands that I start querying my heart out.

Okay, it's time to find a coffee shop and hole up there for the immediate future. Happy Sunday!

I Need To Get On the Rewriting Classics Train

My favorite new deal from Publishers Marketplace for this week is:

Janet Mullany's THE IMMORTAL JANE AUSTEN, a humorous novel about Jane Austen in Regency England who joins the vampire resistance in Bath when England is invaded by French forces, to May Chen at Harper, in a nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Lucienne Diver of The Knight Agency (world).

WTF? What is it with Jane Austen being rewritten in a variety of ridiculous ways? I need to get on this bandwagon; it's just too bad that by the time I finish a book for this trend, the trend will already be dead. I suppose that means I should focus on submitting AN INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE, rather than developing a version of Upton Sinclair's THE JUNGLE in which he explores the horrors of the meatpacking industry and discovers that all meatpackers are, in fact, syphilitic zombies intent on infecting the American population in an effort to upgrade from their filthy tenement apartments.

Actually, given the state of the market, that idea may have promise...