In January 2021, with all my kids in school, alone in my house for the first time in fourteen years, I found myself a little out of sorts and unsure what to do with myself. Out of sheer nostalgia, I opened Out To Get You. It wasn't Shakespeare or Faulkner but it was a good, well-crafted, well told story though I could see where it needed to be improved. After three months of editing, nine years and six months after Ms. Weltz's rejection, I tossed my hat into the querying ring again. Those of you in the know about the chaos taking over traditional publishing at that time probably just groaned and face palmed. I, however, was blissfully ignorant. All I knew was the days of paper queries and SASEs were long gone and I needed to up my query game. I joined a writer's group that focused specifically on strengthening the submission package. I queried in batches. I joined Twitter and participated in pitch contests. I met a lot of lovely writers and found two new critique partners from the writer's group (hi, Becky and Hannah!) but nothing I did moved the needle on querying at all. The rejections streamed in. I was practically drowning in discouragement when, about six months in, I received a reply from a new agent telling me that while Out To Get You didn't sound right for her list, she enjoyed my writing and asked me if I had anything else. Though I'd pretty much given up on Seeds this agent did have Greek retellings listed in her MSWL, so I pitched Seeds to her. She immediately requested a partial. The partial turned into a revise and resubmit on the partial, but she also asked that I revise the entire manuscript keeping her feedback on the first three chapters in mind just in case she requested the full. I was hesitant to do as she asked because of my experience with Ms. Weltz but decided to move forward. With some help from one of my new critique partners (Thanks, Becky!) I undertook a fairly extensive revision. Halfway through the agent rejected the partial. It wasn't a form which I appreciated but her reasons for rejecting boiled down to 'I just didn't like this'. I didn't know what to do with that. I was once again gutted and not at all sure I wanted to keep going.
Around this time, I'd nearly exhausted my agent query list for Out To Get You. One of the friends I made from the submission package writing group who had read Out To Get You suggested I query a new small press called Rising Action Publishing Collective to which she had connections (Thanks, Hannah!). I wasn't sure about going small press but I figured I had nothing to lose, so I got on their query manager and sent my query on over. I got a full request from them a few months later. In January 2022 I received a very kind rejection from Alexandria Brown, RA's CEO and one of its editors. Alex let me know that while she enjoyed the book and the writing, she'd recently signed two books that were very similar so she didn't feel she could take on Out To Get You. She ended by inviting me to send over anything else I had and /or to get in touch about future projects. I knew Seeds wasn't right for her list, but it did seem like it might be a fit for Tina, her co editor and Rising Action's COO. However, Tina wasn't open to queries at the time. I figured at this point the worst Alex could do was say no so I asked her to see if Tina was interested in Seeds. Alex said she would check in with Tina. A few weeks later, when I hadn't heard from Alex, I sent a followup, this time with my query for Seeds in the body of the email. Alex forwarded that email onto Tina that day. The next day Tina emailed me some questions about the manuscript. I sent the requested information but I also included in my response a detailed explanation of all the revise and resubmits I'd done on the manuscript without it being under contract and explained I would not be doing that again. I told her I was willing to discuss and implement suggested edits only if I had a signed contract in hand. Tina was happy with my responses regarding the manuscript and not at all put off by my editorial caveat. She requested the full that day. I asked for a week to make sure the manuscript was in decent condition since it had been six months since I'd looked at it last, then sent it off to Tina. She read the book in a matter of days and set up a call with me right after finishing it. Our phone call went really well and she offered on the book the next day. The day I signed the contract, I had to smash it in between picking up my youngest kids from school and taking my oldest to her friend's house. I was in a rush and forgot to have my husband take a picture which is why there's no image with this post. Not quite the momentous occasion I'd always imagined, but I had a book deal under my belt! I took about a month to become Publisher's Marketplace official. I had to laugh when the memory of Jennifer Weltz requesting the full popped up on my facebook memory just a few days before I announced my deal. It's been a long strange ride and it's far from over yet. Check back or sign up to my blog if you'd like some insights into what the process of getting Seeds ready for publication has been like for me.
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