Receipt received, repeat

I received the first email about agent-finding. I say first because at the bottom was a thoughtful "let me know when you're ready for more." This first email has a scroll bar. I'll confess that I haven't looked at it as hard as I could have, but that stops this week. I'd been waiting on it, and using that lack as an excuse, but now that it's here I am working on not looking for another reason to avoid doing something I assume will be very unpleasant.

And I couldn't even say why it is, really. From a distance, it's very simple. Agents are just people in the business of making connections, and for the sake of proficiency, they tend to make their trade specific kinds of connections. Literary agents tend to work with certain kinds of work, and certain kinds of authors. I just have to find my type, based on their record, which is generally public information. When I say it like that, it's easy. It's over there, on the other side of the room, harmless.

And yet... 

In other news, I am getting good feedback on the short story, which I can only relate to my understanding of the realities of child birth. It didn't come out the way I imagined in my mind, but I'm still mostly happy for the process. Moving away from contemporary imaginings, and into science fiction, now I need to engineer some improvements. I think that's the goal his week, if this week has a goal. Sights on the 4th draft of the short story, and conjuring an outline for a plan of attack regarding finding an agent. 

Also, I received a review on my first book that I think classifies as negative. I was informed by a friend who happened to be passing through the webspace, and told me about it. I was pretty thrilled. I think my feelings were supposed to be hurt, but the person went through the trouble to jot down notes every 30 pages, and then post all of that online. He still even gave me 2 stars. In subsequent weeks, I learned that this person is a habitual reviewer, so nothing less should be expected, but I found myself pleased that someone had picked over my work with such dedication. Thinking back, I think that's just about all I've ever asked for. 

It would be really useful if I turned out to be impervious to criticism. I think it will soon be time to face the next firing squad.

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