ink-quest

Ugh, I've been dreading this post. I've post-poned writing it for almost a week now.

Remember how I sent my query letter to ten different Toronto literary agents? I've mentioned it enough, so I'd be surprised if you didn't know that little factoid... Well, I just received the tenth and final response on Wednesday.

The fact that I began this post with an 'ugh' as opposed to a 'yay!' should be enough of a clue for you to figure out what the tenth and final response was. Just like the other nine: a big, fat no.

BUT, I'm not as disappointed as you might think.

I mean, sure, it sucks to hear from ten different people that your writing isn't good enough for them to bring to publishers (although most of them worded it in nicer terms), but there's always a silver lining.

For one thing, I've heard a million and one stories about best sellers who couldn't market their books to save their lives. They'd get upwards of thirty rejections and wouldn't let that stop them. Plus, giving up isn't in my DNA so even if it went against all reason, I'd still pick myself up, brush myself off and try again.

Also, with every rejection letter I received, I went back to my novel and worked on it a little more. One agent actually gave me a few suggestions even though they don't usually do that with works that they've rejected. (PS. it was an agent from the bukowski agency - even though I won't be represented by them, I still totally respect them and would recommend them to anyone because of how awesome they've been to me).

I've shaved a couple thousand words off from the beginning of my story so it can get to the action faster and I'm still cutting a few useless bits here and there. It went from almost 108,000 words down to 104,000 words since Wednesday, so I'm already getting excited to send the new version to a new batch of agents to see what they think.

Speaking of, I'm pretty excited about the agents themselves. This time around I'll be sending it to agents in New York. I figure a story about a girl in Boston might have a bigger market in the States anyway. One of the agencies represented Ewan McGregor's book, so I know I'd be in good hands - I just need to make sure my book is ready for their high standards.

Luckily, I don't need to rush. I forgot that you're allowed to take breathers, even when you're aspiring to make something of your life. Granted, my idea of a breather is more of a switching of tracks than a stopping at a station, so to speak. And by that I mean I may just pay more attention to getting an acting agent in the next month or so and get back to the literary agent later. Or, I may do both. Because I'm insane.

This week's forcast: a few sparadic flurries and the definite possibility that I might wear myself too thin. So, as cheesy as it sounds, I'm forcing myself to listen to this song over and over again because it sort of reminds me that no matter how many things I want to do with my life, sometimes I just need to take a step back and remember that all I have is right now, and it's amazing, just the way it is.

Oh, so cheesy.

Keep it real!