Insert Witty Title Here

Time to play "Where Are They Today?" Today's focus: the various agents with various partials of my various novels. Let's hear it for variety!

First, the GAN.

When we last checked on the status of this contemporary fantasy, we were waiting to hear from Agents 5, 8, 13, and 14. So where are they today?

Agent 5: Still no feedback on the second revision, which the agent received toward the end of April.

Agent 8: Still no word on the full, which the agent orignally received November 2004.

Agent 13: After more than 15 weeks with the partial, a form-letter rejection.

Agent 14: After three weeks with the partial, the agent sent the following rejection:

I have now had a chance to look over the material you sent, and I'm afraid it doesn't sound quite right for me. With the market being so competitive, it is only with unreserved enthusiasm that we feel comfortable taking on new projects. I trust another agent will think otherwise. In any case, I wish you the best of success, and thank you again for the chance to consider your work.

* * *

So chalk one up for lack of suitable enthusiasm.

But there's still hope for the faithful! In the past week, joining the ranks are...

Agent 15, requesting the first 50 pages. After a major epiphany, I had just revised the first 50 pages, killing more than 3,000 words, deleting one scene, bludgeoning extraneous description, and so forth. Now the first 50 pages end perfectly at the close of chapter 4...right in the thick of things plot-wise. Feeling good, Billy Ray.

Agent 16, requesting the first 30 pages. With said epiphany, the first 30 pages now end perfectly at the close of chapter 2. All the main players have been introduced, ending with a tie-in to the action-packed prologue...and, God willing, written well enough for the Agent to want more, more, more.

Of course, karma being what it is, today I also found an SASE in the mailbox. Biting back a groan, I opened it to find...my own query letter to Agent X (who didn't make it past the query stage). Handwritten at the bottom of my query was a brief note, saying that the GAN "didn't sound like it was for" this agent. Feh. I'm all for saving trees, but really, sending back my own query is just tacky.

Now, CHARLES.
In the past few weeks, three agents with the work have all said "go away." Well, actually, they didn't say that at all. They were all personalized rejections, which was considerate and somewhat helpful. One, in particular, gave a detailed explanation where the story went astray for that agent. This was very beneficial. Of course, it still sucks that they all rejected it. But every bit of feedback is useful. The partial is still with four agents, and the full with one. And, to make it interesting, Agent 16 above also handles chick lit. Maybe the planets are starting to line up...

Still, feeling positive. I have this pang in my gut that says I'll get an offer by the end of August. Then again, that could just be a hunger pain. Look at that, I've spent my lunch hour blogging instead of eating. Off to grab a sandwich, then back to work.

Happy Thursday, all!

Television Buzz of the Day
Battlestar Galactica, The SciFi Channel, 10 pm ET, Friday July 15. Woot! There are only 12 makes of Cylons, and we know about four of them. I'm betting that at least one more model gets outted this season.

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