if I'm dreaming, don't wake me up

I've been here before. I'm dressed for the gala ball in my honor. My hair is done to the nines, my dress is fabulous, I can even walk in the shoes. But wait. When I look down, I realize I'm wearing a short skirt, and I haven't shaved my legs...in like a month!

Oops!

Then there's the dream where I'm just about to kiss my hot movie star dream guy when I wake up to a wet tongue and dog breath. We've all had dreams like this, where the world is perfect for one bright shining moment and then...pop! ​The bubble bursts and it's back to reality we go.

So, as I read through my email and discover I have yet another agent (can you say 6? Count 'em, six agents!) interested in my book, I start to wonder when the alarm clock is going to go off, dragging me back to my mundane little life of chickens, duck(s), and killer pigs. I'm sort of afraid to let myself believe it's all real, for fear I really will​ wake up and be disappointed.

But I guess, for now, the only thing I can do is go with it. Keep sending out those requested manuscripts while I wait for the other glass slipper to drop. Hey, who knows...maybe there really is a guy on a white horse standing in the wings, or a crazy top-hat-wearing-Johnny Depp character waiting to take me to the top in his glass elevator. ​

Stranger things have happened, right? And if I'm lucky, I'll get a piece of fancy chocolate while I'm at it. ​

Until the next time...I'll be waiting (not so patiently).​

you call that rejection?

And the madness continues...​

So since I last updated you on the craziness that is my life, I've gotten another request from an agent. For the full book this time, not just a few chapters. She apparently loved the sample chapters I'd already sent her and wanted more. This is always good. So that makes four agents saying yes to reading my book. That's four steps closer to success. ​

But like I said before, rejection is part of the game, and I did get a rejection letter tonight. It was easily the nicest,  most complimentary rejection letter I have EVER gotten. I mean, I'm considering framing it. Seriously. The agent said she wouldn't be comfortable marketing the book due to the sexy scenes, but asked if I would please contact her when it was published so she could buy a copy and read it herself. She loved my synopsis, and my sample chapter, and I guess, me. And they call that rejection? Seriously, I wouldn't mind a few more like that. I mean, if the odds say I have to have a percentage of these come back as no, I may as well enjoy them, right? ​

I'm telling you, this is the most bizarre turn of events in my quest to be popular and loved by all. A daunting task, but if things keep going this way, I might actually get there eventually.

Until then...I'll be watching my email with a little grin and a lot of hope.​

rejection... what rejection?

Once upon a time, I wrote about sending queries to agents and getting rejection after rejection, and sucking it up to tell myself, this is all apart of the business. Writers will inevitably suffer from rejection. And I have. At least my fair share. And I suspect I'll be rejected yet again. But not today. Today, I was decidedly NOT rejected. Today (or more specifically yesterday), I opened my email to see a  yes where I'd found so many nos before.​

Ok, truthfully, the last time I queried anything I got a great big yes...it was a book deal, right? So it's not like I can say my story ended in tragedy or anything. But yesterday as I sent out a fresh batch of queries for Suddenly Sorceress, my paranormal chick lit/romance with a sexy twist, I didn't expect to see an immediate response, and an overwhelmingly positive one at that. I mean, we all WANT that. We hope for it, dream about it, even plan for it, but it doesn't happen that often. It's the elusive white whale breaking the water with a mighty blow from his hole thing.

Anyway...so here I am, opening my email...expecting the standard rejection letters we writers are so well versed in. And what do I find? Not one...not two...but THREE requests for chapters. What? Chapters you say? Someone wants to read more? Umm...holy crap! Yeah, I said more R-rated words, but you get my drift. ​

So, maybe they won't love the book once they read more. But I'm not worried about that right now. I'm just flying high on the fact that they didn't say no. And like any teenager will tell you, a maybe is just as good as a yes most days of the week, and twice on a Saturday.​

Until the next time...I'll be sending off those chapters and waiting for more yeses!​

I go, you go, just let go of the ego

I’ve been called a diva, a rock star, a bitch and a brat.  I know I’m a control freak with chronic impatience and OCD that rivals Howard Hughes, and I’ll willingly own up to every bit of that without batting an eyelash.

But don’t ever accuse me of letting my ego get in the way of a good story.

Oh, you can say I have an ego, sure. I ordered mine custom. But despite my lack of balance and coordination in most things, I know how to wield my ego with finesse.  

Basically, if you’re a writer you need to know when to keep the ego at bay.

I have very literally spent the past month running through edit after edit on my book, To Katie with Love. I had no less than five writers and editors with their hands in the story, each urging me to cut here or add there…each with a different perspective on my story, and the best direction to take.  And each one was right in their own way. The decisions were ultimately mine. And for the record, I think I made the right ones based on the feedback and suggestions from my crack team of writing experts, all working toward the same goal…making sure my story doesn’t suck. 

And not only does it not suck it’s a pretty damn good story! (Enter just the right amount of ego.) All thanks to the writers I will forever be indebted to, and friendships forged that I’m certain will last a lifetime.

That, as they say, is how it’s done.

Until the next time…I’ll be sending off that query letter (the one my crack team of writers helped me write!)