Seeing A Dream Come True

I promised I'd let you know what it feels like to sign an Agent Agreement when the time came, and now I know:

It feels TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME, that's how it feels!

Did you get the deep, psychological meaning of those capital letters? Good. These pictures not only depict a writer signing a contract; they illustrate a dream coming true.

You may notice the address on my mailbox. Yes, I live on Twilight Circle where the murder in my last book took place. It's a scary neighborhood! Not really, but it is evidence that our ideas often arise (very!) close to home.

I can't wait to see pics like these from all of you waiting for "The Call." Have faith! It shall be. If you keep at it, your dreams will all come true. And I, for one, can't wait to see that happen. ;-)

There are different types of dreams that manifest in our lives. Here are lyrics to a song called, "Dream Come True" that my husband and I wrote after the birth of our first son, Adam:

DREAM COME TRUE
for Adam, 1989 (and Ethan, 1992!)
Speak softly to me, my love, tell me the things you're dreaming of
Speak sweetly, my love, I see you come from up above
Since the day you came to me, I've found a world that's not the same
When you're looking up at me, well I can see!

You're a dream come true
And I love all the things you do
It's true, how I love you

You are the magic in my soul, you're every dream I've ever known
In your eyes so blue, well, I love you

You're a dream come true
And we love the things you do
You're a dream come true
And it's true, well we love you

You were the light we'd seen before
You shined as bright as the brightest star
All we wish for you to know... Is we love you so

You're our dream come true
And we love the things you do
You're our dream come true
And it's true, well we love you -

Pictures of our "babies" now - proof that dreams change and grow over time in beautiful and unexpected ways. ;-)

Did I Mention I've Got An....

Did I mention I've got an agent? No? Huh. Silly me. Must have slipped my mind...

OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!!! I'VE GOT AN AGENT!!!!!!!

Yes, it's happened - that life-changing phone call that well, changes your life.

First of all, let me introduce you to the most amazing agent on the planet: the lovely and talented Ms. Bernadette Baker-Baughman of Baker's Mark Literary Agency.*** Why is she so amazing?

1) Because she just is;

2) Because she "gets" my work, sees the potential, and has big plans for it, me, and us.

This story - "our" story - is somewhat unusual so, I thought I'd share it with you.

Once upon a time, there was a novel called, "SPARKS FLY SOMETIMES: CONFESSIONS OF A ROCK PRINCESS." (Yup, that's me "back in the day.") I've given the tag line before, but here it is again:

Life as a rock princess in the Denver music scene does nothing to prepare Jenny for life as a domestic goddess in the suburbs of Philly.

I love this book with all my heart, and I queried it widely. By "widely" I mean in the neighborhood of 150 queries. I received some requests for partials and even a few for fulls. BTW, one of the form rejections I got was from an agency called Baker's Mark Literary Agency.

Though I got interest, I didn't get any requests for representation. So, what did I do? I kept writing.

Next up: MURDER ON TWILIGHT CIRCLE. I always wanted to write a fun mystery and had a ball writing this. I queried widely again, in the neighborhood of 150 queries. This time, I got a lot more interest. 17 partial requests and 8 full requests. Ah. Now we were getting somewhere! Oh, and btw? One of the form rejections I received was from an agency called Baker's Mark Literary Agency.

Stats on MTC:
158 queries sent; 82 no response; 51 passes; 25 requests

Then a miracle happened. Through the magic that is Twitter, I received an e-mail. It was from a certain Bernadette Baker-Baughman from Baker's Mark Literary Agency. Here's a portion of the e-mail:

Hi Debra,

Bernadette here of Baker’s Mark Literary Agency. I just saw your funny reply to our twitter correspondence about author queries and I thought to myself “Shoot, did Debra query us and we responded with a no? How could we?” At any rate, I hope that is not the case, as I am quite enjoying our correspondence via twitter, and I like what you have to say on your blog (very beautiful, btw). If that is the case, well, I’d like to invite you to query again... We get anywhere between 150-300 queries a week and sometimes it is just downright difficult to pull out what we are looking for.

Yup, you read that right. She liked what I had to say on Twitter, visited my blog, and invited me to requery her for MURDER ON TWILIGHT CIRCLE. I immediately sent her the query and she asked for the first 100 pages, cover letter, and bio.

Then we emailed and talked on the phone. She said she loved my writing, but didn't feel a mystery was the best genre to go out with as a debut author. I told her about SPARKS FLY and she liked the idea. She asked me for the full manuscript. Then, I told her about an idea I had for a YA novel. That's when she got really excited. She asked me to keep her posted on my progress with the book. I began writing on September 20th and finished the first draft on November 3rd (six weeks; 62,000 words). This was the fourth novel I've finished, and the third novel I've finished this past year. (The first one took me 13 years, give or take, and the last three were done in a year.)

When I finished the first draft of my YA novel, she made a request. "I'd like a 7-day exclusive on your 1st draft."

"Come again? Um, okay, but let me read through it once before I send it."

What? An agent wanting to look at a first draft? I'd never heard of that before. I read through the ms and did a soft-edit, making sure sentences made sense, and correcting all the little odds and ends that go horribly awry when you're writing a first draft. Then I sent it off and was a basket case.

We scheduled a phone call for this past Friday, as in "Friday the 13th." Hmm... I wasn't feeling the warm fuzzies about the date or the call. I was sure she was going to say something like, "It's not bad, I mean maybe it's even good in places, but it's totally not there. Why don't you finish your edits and I'll take a look again, say maybe sometime next year?" I was ready for that. I took deep cleansing breaths and did stretching exercises in the minutes leading up to "the call." I could handle "no." I'd gotten quite good at it over the past year.

"The Call" lasted nearly an hour, and somewhere within that time frame, Bernadette offered to represent me. When I got off the call, I had a little trouble breathing. Okay, I felt like the air had been sucked out of my lungs and I needed CPR - but in a good way. As wonderful as the conversation was, it wasn't a done deal. Bernadette told me to sleep on it, really think it over, and call her back when I'd made my decision.

Decision? What decision? To go with an amazing agent who loves my work and who, by her own admission, is a "high-powered bitch" (which is a great trait for an agent!), and who has huge vision and plans for my book vs. remaining agent-less? What kind of decision was that?

If only it were that simple... Keeping with the "proper protocol" of being offered representation, I sent e-mails to all agents who were still reading my work. There were five - each truly awesome. Two asked for the full 1st draft of my new book, another asked for the first 20 pages, another declined but wanted to continue reading my murder mystery, and one did not reply. Uh-oh. What do I do now?

In the end, I decided Bernadette was the one for me. Part of me knew it since that first e-mail she'd sent back on September 2nd. At the risk of sounding cliche, she had me at "hello" (or, "Hi Debra").

My advice to all of you wonderful and talented writers who are looking for representation is as follows:

1) QUERY WIDELY!

2) Keep writing. You never know which ms will be "the one."

3) Do lots of research. Find out which agents represent your genres, what other writers and clients have to say about them, what they've sold, etc. If possible, go to conferences and meet them in person.

4) Be organized. I had separate email folders for "Queries," "Passes," and "Requests," as well as an excel spreadsheet. I also kept track of my queries on QueryTracker.net. Other great resources include: AgentQuery.com and Publishers Marketplace.

5) Get to "know" agents on Twitter. It is the single most amazing resource writers have to converse with agents and find a good "fit."

6) Be your own best marketer. Have a blog &/or a website, keep it updated, and have it be a true representation of yourself. Get used to marketing yourself - you should always be your number one promoter!

7) DON'T GIVE UP!!!! If you're talented, committed, and dedicated, your day will come. I have no doubt about it. Neither should you.

Last, I'd like to thank each and every one of you for your incredible support. I can't tell you how much your comments mean to me. I hope the story of my journey (so far!) has been worthwhile for you.

Namaste, my friends. With all my heart, I bow to you.

***Bernadette is now with Victoria Sanders & Assoc. in NYC.

When You Look in the Mirror - What Do You See?

I've been thinking about "the call" a lot lately. In part, because some amazing writer friends have recently gotten their much-deserved calls, and in part because I'm feeling "ready." I know this sounds silly. I mean, who's not ready to hear a rock star agent loves their work and wants to represent them, or that their agent has sold their work in a triple-book deal to a big house? No one, of course. Yet, I think you need to feel ready deep down in your bones - like you've done the work, you're prepared and excited to do more, you're looking forward to continually "upping" your game, and that you, well, deserve it.

I thought I felt that way from the first time I put pen to paper in a "serious" manner nearly 15 years ago. But, I wasn't ready. Not by a long shot. I was merely dipping my toes in the novel-writing sea. It took me years to learn how to float, i.e., find my "voice," and years more to swim, i.e., figure out how to powerfully and passionately craft that voice into a meaningful story others would want to read. The fact that people are now enjoying my work and telling others about it is a wonder. It feels good, like my hard work is paying off - like I'm finally doing my job.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see?
Where are you at in your writing game? Are you ready for The Call, or are you working towards the day you will be? The way I see it, as long as you're working hard to improve your craft, you are already successful. I often need to remind myself of this, but I do believe it's true.

As an enlightened friend from India wrote on his blog: "What you focus on expands." If you focus on your art, your goals, your dreams, your relationships, they will - in time - unfold and expand. On the same token, if you think negative thoughts or focus on what's not working (watering the weeds), that's what will show up in your life. The good news is we each have the innate ability to manifest our realities. So, choose your thoughts and actions wisely!

IN OTHER NEWS...
I'd like to thank the charming Stephanie Damore for honoring me with the following You Don't Say? Super Comments Award. Isn't it the cutest thing? Please stop over at her place and thank her for honoring me this way.

Now comes the hard part - passing along this auspicious award to five of my blogging buds who write kickass comments. Choosing only five is nearly impossible, since everyone who comments on my blog leaves funny, poignant, insightful comments. Nonetheless, I'll give it a go:

To my favorite southern belle, Angie at Gumbo Writer. Your comments always put a smile on my face. If only you'd realize how much better cats are than dogs...

To the sweet and savvy Karen at karen...following the whispers. She went back and completed her BA later in life - what's not to admire? Her comments are always thoughtful and kind.

To the lovely and talented Ray Veen at Big Plain V. He's always got some smart(ass) comment to add, plus he plays guitar and sings. (And, shhh, don't tell him, but he's one of my absolute faves...)

The also lovely and talented Paul Michael Murphy at Murph Blog. I was informed last time I gave out awards, that the male species was blatantly absent from my list. I'm making up for it here with another one of my favorite guys. Murph's a teacher. Need I say more?

And, lastly, the beautiful Anita Laydon Miller who was one of the first people in the blogosphere to compliment my writing on Jessica Faust's Holiday Contests. Her book reviews are riveting. I hope to meet her on one of my frequent trips to Colorado.

Believe me when I tell you, even if I didn't mention you here specifically, please feel free to take this award and place it proudly on your blog. Each and every one of you deserve it! I am constantly in awe of and forever grateful for the amazing peeps who follow my blog.

You guys ROCK!!!!!!!!