come on all you dashing gentlemen of summer

Thanks v. much for all the congratulations, friends! Hopefully everything will pan out in the end, but despite the pitfalls between here and publication, getting my first positive response to a query letter was a v. exciting occurrence.

Since I'm currently buoyed by yesterday's request, I decided to press forward and send out three more queries tonight. While I would be thrilled to work with the agent who requested my material yesterday, it could take her weeks to review it, and I don't want to waste that time if she ultimately says no. So, I sent similar letters to three other agents at the top of my list. Figuring out what to send to whom is a bit maddening; all three wanted different things (one wanted 10pgs plus a synopsis, one wanted 5pgs, and the third wanted only the query letter itself). Because I'm both paranoid and detail-oriented (a dangerous combination), this meant I quadruple-checked everything before hitting the send button. But, they're finally out there in the ether -- and my goal is to have at least four queries out at any given time until I sign with an agent or exhaust all possible avenues.

It's hard to do this on top of a full-time job, though. I was only at the office for nine hours today, but it involved an all-day training, and for some reason sitting on a couch and listening to someone train me for eight hours (with a break for lunch) makes me more tired and stressed than running around to 8-16 meetings over the course of a day. Maybe I was stressed because I kept surreptitiously checking my iPhone and saw how much stuff was piling up. So I left work as soon as the training was over, went to downtown Mountain View to mail some stuff (including my application for Romance Writers of America's next level of membership -- which I'm now qualified for since I have proof of a completed manuscript and proof of submission to agents), and then sat in a cafe for an hour and caught up on email while waiting for traffic to die down. It's a little ridiculous that my commute is now my only break in the day, but c'est la vie. Until I find an agent, I've got to keep my eyes on the prize -- and I need to start writing the next book!

Okay, no more, it's bedtime. And we'll see how well I can keep my composure in tomorrow's all-day training as I secretly update my iPhone to watch the newest rejections roll in...