| Short Thankful Thursday |
[Dec. 17th, 2009|08:44 am] |
I am thankful for:
1. tea;
2. diclofenac;
3. pens;
4. friends; and
5. my mom and dad, who bought us a new Xmas tree, the kind with lights attached, and 60 new ornaments, including a set of adorable 12 Days of Christmas balls. Oh, by the way, it's not that my mom and dad bought us the tree. It's that they THOUGHT of it. And that if I need them they'll be at my door in 53 minutes (51 of those minutes being the drive from their house). |
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| Agent Love! |
[Dec. 11th, 2009|10:23 am] |
I don't know the writers who started this, but I am happy for any opportunity to give my wonderful agent a shout-out, so here I go.
I met Linda Pratt of the Sheldon Fogelman Agency at the Rutgers One-on-One conference. My friend ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kathyerskine was paired with Linda as a mentee. Somehow they started talking about historical fiction and Kathy used the opportunity to tell Linda about one of my manuscripts. Linda asked Kathy to introduce us, Kathy did, and to my great joy, things went pretty smoothly from there. I signed with Linda in the winter of 2007.
Wow. I'm typing this and I'm suddenly at a loss. I have so many wonderful complimentary adjectives I could use to describe Linda, and I want to tell you a story or give an example for each one of them, but somehow, as much as I want to, it seems really personal and strange to share. So I will just say these three things:
1. After I signed with Linda, I emailed an editor I know pretty well to tell her about it, and she responded by writing, "Linda has a keen eye, and she's probably the nicest person in publishing." I haven't met everybody in publishing, but I can't imagine anyone being nicer. And her editorial eye is right on. I agree with 98% of her suggestions.
2. Linda has better-known, better-published, and more talented people on her list. But when she is dealing with me, via email or phone or in person, I feel like I am the only one. Her attention is on me. She's a great cheerleader and a great advocate. I feel like she's spending 40 hours a week thinking about me and my career. Even though I know in my head that that's not actually true and that she's taking care of all her clients as well as agency business (and also living a life outside of agenting), I always feel cared for and supported.
3. Since I signed with Linda, my life has taken some turns I didn't expect. Some of those turns have affected the time I have to spend on my writing, and some of them have impacted the mental energy writing requires, to the point where my productivity has truly suffered. She doesn't blink. She has come up with ways to motivate me to reach small goals, goals that help me remember I'm a writer, even when I am not writing. She's thinking about my career and my writing over the long haul.
I'm blessed to have Linda as my agent and as my friend. I have a gift for her that I bought over 18 months ago, something I've been keeping all this time planning to send it when we sold our first book. We've met that goal, and I'll be sending it to her soon. I almost hate to let it go because over these 18 months, when I looked at it on my office shelf, it symbolized hope.
But it's hers, so it's headed to the 212. It is a very strange gift. I will tell you about it after she's gotten it.
I only hope she doesn't think it is too strange to put on her office shelf. If it is, I guess she can sell it on eBay.
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| Favor? |
[Dec. 7th, 2009|09:09 am] |
If anyone can get their hands on an ARC of Susan Beth Pfeffer's upcoming book THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN for a teenager I know who loved the first two books and who is currently hospitalized and will probably not be home for Christmas, can you email me?
ETA: Thanks to dear, dear artistq for sending my plea directly to Ms. Pfeffer, who is sending an ARC. And thanks, Ms. Pfeffer! |
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