What I’ve Been Reading

For my birthday this year, I got this Moleskine book journal as a present. I’ve decided to use it to keep track of memorable reads, the ones that stay with me long after I’ve finished the book, ones that make me wish I’d thought to mark the passages that touched me, because I can’t find them again, ones that made me wish I’d been the one to write them. I’m not going to bother with the meh, the forgettable, or the awful. Well, maybe the ones bad enough to make me want to throw the book against a wall. Could be fun to rant about those, at least privately. We’ll see. If a book is worthy of a spot in the Moleskine, I figure it’s worth sharing with you. I’ve had the journal for a month, and already it has two entries. Not bad at all, after a run of books I can’t even remember reading. First up is The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty. Liane first grabbed my attention with her What Alice Forgot. I’ve not yet read any of her other titles, but I thoroughly enjoyed Alice, and when I saw this new one in the bookstore on my birthday, I treated myself to the hardcover. It took me a little longer to get into this one than I’d hoped, because there are a number of POV characters and it took me awhile to get them all sorted out. But it was worthwhile persevering. Moriarty is very good at creating seriously flawed characters and making me care about them. Her books don’t shy away from the sometimes ugly truth of the choices we make and the things we’ll do to protect our families, and her characters are all the more real for it. The best book I’ve read in a long time came to me as a recommendation from Nephele Tempest. I took it out of the library, and as soon as I finished it, knew I’d have to go and buy it to have it on my keeper shelves. Letters from Skye, by Jessica Brockmole, left me in tears. It’s a lovely epistolary novel set in both world wars, by turns lyrical, touching, and very real. I wish I’d written it. It’s definitely my favourite epistolary novel since I read Helene Hanff’s 84 Charing Cross Road a couple of decades ago. Happy Friday. Heading into the craziness that is SiWC next week. See you on the other side! Share...

Agent!

I’m very pleased (she said, understating the case terribly) to announce that I have signed with Nephele Tempest of The Knight Agency. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Nephele through SiWC for several years, and I couldn’t imagine a better fit for me. I’m thrilled to be working with her. Needless to say, this has been a rather exciting few days. I find I’m at rather a loss for words about this, probably because it’s difficult to get my head around the idea that after working towards this step in my writing life for such a long time, it’s finally a reality. Weird. Share...

Reading Romance

It’s been a heck of a summer here, filled with family and friends and travel and very, very little time online. Today, it’s absolutely pouring rain, a morning designed to remind me of the coming fall and the need to spend some time inside, catching up. So here I am. As a tiny little start, I’ll simply say hello here and suggest that you go immediately to read this excellent post on reading romance fiction from the brilliant and delightful Susanna Kearsley. Back soon! Share...

Agent Questions

In my day job as coordinator of the Surrey International Writers’ Conference, I get a LOT of questions in my email inbox. While many of the queries are conference-related, an amazing number are about the writing business. More and more, it seems, the questions focus on finding an agent. I’m not sure I qualify as an expert, but I have learned a lot about the industry over the years, both as a writer and in working with and attending the conference. So I thought I’d address some of the very frequently asked questions I receive, mostly from people who are brand new to the process and who’re stressing out about it. If any agents or agented authors are reading this, please feel free to correct my assumptions or add your thoughts in the comments. This post is entirely my own opinions, for what they’re worth. Please always check the websites of agents you’re considering for their specific preferences and go with those. That being said, here are the top five things I end up repeating in my answers to emails about agents: 1. This is a BUSINESS. I know you put your heart and soul into creating the baby you’re sending out into the world. It wouldn’t be worth trying to find an agent if you hadn’t. But once you’re ready to send it out, you need to separate your emotional connection to your book from the business of getting published. Easier said than done? Of course! It’s a lot like sending your kid off to school and then going to a parent-teacher conference to hear a stranger’s assessment of his skills and personality. It can be brutal. But if you don’t want to be seen as the crazy parent no one wants to deal with, you stay polite and have a reasonable conversation, even if you drive home privately convinced the teacher has no clue about your child. As personal as your manuscript is to you, to a potential agent, your book is a business prospect. Do they believe in it enough to sell it? And if they do, have you shown them that you’re going to be easy to work with, professional, and able to respond reasonably to criticism and editorial comments? 2. On a related note, a query letter is a business letter. Inject your personality, give a sense of the voice of your book, sure, but don’t let it go out full of errors, don’t tell agents how fabulous your book is or how it’s going to be the next big thing (again, the kid analogy applies. You polish ‘em up and send ‘em out in the world; it’s up to those they meet to form their own impressions). DO be clear and grammatically correct and interesting and let your story sell itself by writing a great blurb. 3. Agents are people. For the time they have our manuscripts on submission, they hold our dreams in their hands, so it can be really easy to be intimidated or see them as somehow different, scarier, maybe. But they’re human beings like the rest of us. Remember this when you write to them or meet them at a conference. 4. Don’t get caught up in the idea of a dream agent. You’ve researched her inside and out and you just KNOW she’s The One. You hang all your hopes on her. And then she rejects you because your work isn’t right for her. I’ve seen a lot of people react to that by saying, “But I know she’s the perfect agent for me!” Guess what? If she doesn’t love your work, she’s not the right agent for you, no matter what your research told you. Assuming you’re only querying reputable agents who actually sell books, the perfect agent for you is the one who gets it, the one who cares about your book as much as you do and with whom you can have a great working relationship. And just like finding a partner in life, chances are she might not be the one you thought she was going to be when you started looking. 5. This can be a SLOW process. Your manuscript is the focus of your attention, the one submission you have to think about, and every day that goes by without news can feel like an eternity. But for agents, reading your submission is just one thing on a VERY long to-do list that has to lean in favour of existing clients if they’re going to succeed. You’ll expect them to work hard for you if you become a client, so trust that they’re busy doing that for...

Milestones

My baby girl became a teenager last week. I am ever more aware of the truth of something author Linda Grimes said to me once: mothers have long days and short years.  Today brought another milestone, one my girl has been working toward since she was four years old, including adding a conditioning class for the last two years to get ready for exactly this: This afternoon, we met her teacher and her pointe class at the local ballet store to get the girls fitted for their first pointe shoes. It was a special hour, filled with laughter and kids who clearly wanted to be nowhere else. So much fun.   Share...