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i know, i know, i know

Yeah, I totally should have blogged by now, but I've been in this holding pattern, waiting to hear back about my latest partial request. This one is a big deal to me so I'm sort of pulling a radio-silence while I wait. Unfortunately, I feel it's going to be a long wait what with BEA coming up...I can't decide whether long waits make the rejection sting more or less.

I'm scared to even think about the outcome of this one. I know my heart will burst with excitement if the agent asks for a full, but I somehow have to put that hope aside and prepare myself for the far more likely possibility that she'll reject me. So anyway, yeah, I don't want to say too much while I wait, lest I ramble myself into a too-hopeful corner.

That said, I should update my QQ09 stats since I'm now at 10 query rejections (11 if you include my first partial rejection, which I suppose I should, though I see it as an accomplishment so it feels wrong to count it in my rejection tally.)

I've started mapping, re-writing my current WIP, which is something I'd started a few years ago, but I've only recently decided how to breathe new life into it. The approach I'm currently taking feels much better than how I'd gone at it before. I'm hoping this one will keep me distracted as I wait and try to remember that how this agent responds to Chameleon is out of my hands now. I just have to hope she likes it and not worry myself. I can't do anything to force it. All I can do is hope, pray, make deals with the devil...ok, maybe not.

I'll hopefully update again soon. This waiting will undoutedly make me squirrely.

they should bottle this stuff and sell it

New post! (as promised)

First off, I am reaching ridiculous levels of uber-excitement because I just received a request for a partial from one of my absolute top agents! I pretty much read the email and then went off like a rocket, dancing around with joy. Then the small part of my brain that reminds me to not get my hopes up kicked in and composed myself enough to reply with said partial attached. Now I wait and no, I'm not going to get my hopes up, but yeah, I am going to cross my my fingers and daydream, and pray, and maybe sacrifice a virgin daiquiri (or maybe a non-virgin daiquiri... it is a long weekend after all).

Ok, so here are the current stats:

Rejections: 7
Partial Requests: 2!!!!!
Partial Rejections: 1

Not a bad ratio if I do say so myself.

So anyway, this news is extra amazing because it came to me on my first half-Friday of the summer (ah, summer hours, how I love thee) and we got free hot breakfast and birthday cake at work this morning! Pretty good day all around, yeah? Yeah, and it only gets better because it's the beginning of what is going to be a great long weekend. Tomorrow both of my sisters and my brother-in-law are coming to visit (always a good time) and then on Sunday, boyfriend and I are headed up to the cottage until Monday. I'm was looking forward to this and the added happiness over this partial request just sweetens the pot.

I suppose I didn't get around to blogging about last weekend. Boyfriend and I had a wonderful time in Niagara Falls. We had gorgeous weather the day we went and there were rainbows all over the place (so girly and pretty!). We had a very nice dinner and then headed back home in time to visit the parents for mother's day/my dad's birthday (which always falls near mother's day weekend).

Work has been busy this week as I got back into the swing of things after my leisurely weekend, but I still took some time to make some revisions to Chameleon and start mapping out my WIP. (Gah, I hope those revisions pay off!)

Been watching finales of all my fav show this week- LOST left me a little heartbroken, but The Office healed said wounds with Jimtastic smiles. I didn't think that guy could act any more adorably. Sigh. What a great season ender.

Aright, that's enough of an update for now. The partial request excitement is flowing through my veins and I just can't sit still :) Also, my kitties are wrestling in the next room and from the sounds of it, things are getting knocked over. I should probably put an end to that...

bad blogger!

I know, I know. I need to blog again soon and I will! I promise! I've been so busy catching up after my anniversary long weekend that I haven't had the time to ogranize my bloggy thoughts, but I promise something soon- hopefully tomorrow if not Friday.

I suppose the least I can do is a QQ09 update:
Rejections: 7
Partial Requests: 1
Partial Rejections: 1

That's right, all of my current hopes are resting on the shoulders of the 6 agents who still haven't responded to my initial query (including 2 agents from my first round of queries! *CROSSES FINGERS*)

More to come...

QQ09 downdate

I decided to call it a downdate instead of an update because it's bad news. Well, it's not bad, it's just disappointing, but it's not unexpected and it's not the end of the world.

My partial was rejected. Yes, almost as quickly as it came, my hopeful happy dance has left me. It's ok though, I know that like the flat-out query rejections before it, this is all part of the process.

And I now know I'm on the right track. My query letter got an agent's attention and even as I continue to receive rejections, nobody can take that away from me. I can hang onto it and reread that request for a partial whenever I need to be reminded that I WILL get Chameleon published, it's just a matter of time.

Here's hoping one of the other eight queries I currently have out there comes back with positive news.

As a positive PS to this post, agent Rachelle Gardner held a little writing contest recently on her blog and she chose my 150 word piece about how the publishing journey is like LOST as one of her seven favourites. After that, readers voted on the winner and well, when reader participation is involved, you never know what will happen. I ended up in third place, which is totally cool with me. I was just happy to be nominated :)

happy milestone time!

Quick Query Quest 2009 Update!

Rejections: 5
Partial Requests: 1!!!!

That's right! A real, honest to God agent requested a partial!!! I'm beyond thrilled to know an agent (and one of my top picks at that!) is reading about Brynn and co. and their various adventures.

Must not get hopes up. Must not get hopes up. Hopes up or not, my first partial is a serious milestone and I think that's worth smiling about :)

queries, revisions and falls, oh my!

The week is off to a much slower start than last week, which is nice because I'm finally catching up on some work that had been put aside in the author summit insanity. I'm also happy to say it's only a four day work week for me because I'm taking Friday off to go to Niagara Falls for the fourth anniversary of boyfriend and I dating. (Actually, next week and the week after that are both four day weeks as well--hooray!) We'll be staying in a very swank room here:


Jealous? I know I am! Wait, what? Anyway, yeah, it's gonna be a blast as long as the weather holds up. Right now they're calling for sun and scattered showers. I can deal with that.

Query Quest 2009, as I've decided to dub it, has entered into its fourth week. I'm still sitting at four rejections, but now have about 7-8 queries out in the world waiting to be responded to. (Wait, four weeks of queries, four rejections, four day work week, and four years of dating with boyfriend....weird. Maybe I should buy four lottery tickets, each laced with 4s. Or maybe I should focus on finishing this post...)

I sent out two more little queries today and made an effort to revise my letter a bit in case it has something to do with the rejections I've received so far. I think the revisions help the query to represent the story a little better. At least, I hope so. I keep going back and forth between a calm reserved patience and a nervous bundle of anxiety attacks. I deal with this by telling myself that worrying or wondering won't cause anything to happen. I just have to keep going. Despite flip-flopping on the issue, I've restrained from sending out too many queries at one time. I want to have multiple requests out there, but not so many that I start to lose track or would have dozens of agents to get in touch with should an offer come my way (I also want the option to keep revising my letter if it isn't working). Originally, I was hoping to send out more queries every time I received a rejection, but since the replies, rejection or otherwise, are slow to arrive, I'm instead sending out a few more every week or so. I'm convinced that eventually the right agent for me will receive my letter and declare: "INGENIOUS! I MUST REQUEST A FULL FROM THIS A-MAZING YOUNG TALENT! HER STORY WILL CHANGE THE FACE OF YA AS WE KNOW IT!" Too much? :)

I hope to have more updates on the whole Query Quest 2009 soon, but for now, I wait, and you wait along with me, and I try my best to not blog about waiting over and over again. Man, something interesting had better happen soon or this blog is gonna get really boring, really fast... I apologize in advance if it comes to that :)

(must think of diversion from depressing turn this has taken...)

Hey, what's that over there?!


Yeah, I dunno. This is what happens when you google "adorable yorkie". I have NO idea what that frog has to do with this, and upon further inspection of the website this came from, I see that this pup isn't even a true yorkie. It's a yorkie poo, which also according to the site, ISN'T a yorkie that has an unfortunate need for frequent trips to the little puppies' room.

What happened to this blog post? I swear it started out somewhere respectable, didn't it?

No?

Fine, I give up.