As writers, we like to believe that if we click our heels together just so, some all-powerful agent or editor will find our manuscripts a home. That’s why, for better and worse, it’s good when someone who operates the levers in the Wizard-of-Oz publishing world offers us a peek behind the curtain.
Here, a provocative example from Gawker.com: Unsolicited: Spell My Damn Name Right, And Other Hot Tips For Agents
“Scary fact: there are more literary agents operating today than ever before. You’d think that this would be a boon to editors: better submissions, and more of them. Well, hahahaha. NO. While I’m all for finding a diamond in the rough, the crap-to-good ratio feels like it’s reached a crisis point.” […]
One writer’s experiences led him to host a conversation about quitting writing altogether.
Even though these are cautionary tales, they don’t discourage me at all. Instead, they serve as positive reminders that I’m surrounded by wonderful traveling companions (read: LJ friends, trusted mentors, a top-notch agent, etc.) who warn me away from the poppy fields and help shoo away the flying monkies!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to put on a pot of coffee, slide into my ruby slippers, and start writing. Maybe, just maybe, my proposal will be submission-ready sometime this week!
That article was a STITCH! Thanks!
I liked it too. LOL!
That article was a STITCH! Thanks!
Shoo, monkies, shoo!
Have a great writing day! 🙂
Yes, no flying monkeys cluttering our (writing) skies!
Shoo, monkies, shoo!
Have a great writing day! 🙂
Click those shoes and let them take you places!
I did, and I have, and I’m waiting now to see where they’ll take me.
Great post. You’re so close, don’t sweat the proposal. It’ll come. Anxiety can handcuff our potential. I know you’ll do just fine.
You’re right about that anxiety bit. I’m focusing on the positive today and crossing my fingers. 🙂
Me! I need some ruby slippers, too!
I seem to be doing a fabulous day of procastinating. 😉
Hee! Me, too. Today, though, I plan (ha!) to be more productive.
interesting links, thanks! I have to say, I’m shocked that agents would be so sloppy. (Call me naive…okay, stop it.) I have a sense that the “agents” who are this sloppy are not agents for long, unless they’re living on a trust fund or something.
The link with the discussion about quitting writing is interesting, too. Quitting?! I can’t imagine quitting writing. Now, publishing (trying to get published), is something else. Who knows how I’ll feel down the road? Publishing is not writing. (Just as talking about, reading about and blogging about writing—all things I love to do—is not writing.) But, honestly, can you imagine NOT writing? It’s like breathing…and reading.
Cheers!
Interesting to think of not writing because there’s more agents, or the publishers are seeing a lot of stuff they don’t want to print. To not write? May discourage the get rich quick writers, but that’s okay.
Dim the lights, turn on the computer, and write about the characters you love. They need you.
Maybe it’s not so shocking when you think about the fact that one doesn’t need to have a degree to hang out an agent’s shingle, and also, lots of agents are young (a very, very good thing — except when it’s not).
I can’t imagine not writing…and I’m trying very hard to imagine being published. Woo hoo!
Good luck getting your porposal ready Dorothy, and keep those ruby reds away from the wicked witch! :0)
It’s in the hands of my agent now. I hope she likes these latest revisions.
Anxieties are my “wicked witch” right now. I’m working on being zen. 🙂