Update On The Pitches

Well, that was really interesting, and even fun, kind of.

Of the eight agents I signed up to pitch to, seven showed up (for one I was suddenly waitlisted), and of those seven, six asked me to send them more of my work.

A couple of those asks felt kind of polite, but a few of them felt like genuine interest. That meant satisfying the “first 20 pages / first 50 pages / first 3 chapters” requests along with various iterations of pitch letters and bios and all that stuff.

Writing a book is by far the easiest part of writing a book.

But that gave me the chance to really micro-focus on those first three chapters, and that meant more editing, and more, “well hell, I never saw that before” moments.

I sent all but the one that requires a full book proposal, which is a mere 7,000 pages of bullshit, frankly. Nothing that can’t be learned in a phone call. But I’ll do my own version of one and see if it gets me anywhere. I suspect not.

The Gordian knot of publishing is that in order to get a book published one must have platform, so try to get something in Newsweek, or the Atlantic, or Mother Jones; in order to get in Newsweek, the Atlantic, or Mother Jones, it’s recommended one have had a book published. Nevertheless, according to the agents, among my high-priority tasks going forward is getting more stuff published, and in high-profile places. I’ll get right on that…

This week I’m taking a course with Kelli Jo Ford on writing point of view. Though it’s ostensibly a fiction class, POV is everywhere, and I’m finding her fantastic to learn from. Her book, Crooked Hallelujah, is so good.

We all left Kelli Jo’s class today with a paper hand-out with our homework assignment on it. The picture you see is of a dog, and all that is left of that homework sheet.

Yes, my dog literally ate my homework.

So a writing course this week and next, more of the editing, then pitching to a few more agents. The waiting game has already begun (I’ve never in my life said “I’ll get back to you in three to five months,” but apparently that’s normal with these folks), but there is much work to be done in case someone actually says yes.

In other exciting news, a friend of mine got her first-ever piece published, and it’s absolutely incredible. Her brainiac science mind and her artistic writer’s mind take a lovely, poignant (really!), and important look at what it’s like for one adult adoptee. Her piece, Schrödinger’s Father, is very much worth the read. She’s someone I’m happy is being heard.