REJECTION, SUBMISSION...AN OLD FAMILIAR SONG

Yesterday, agent Molly Jaffa replied to my query email for my novel, Angie's Choice. She parried my query with an amicable and brief rejection email thrust.

Dear Mr. Thomas,

Thank you for thinking of me for this. Though I truly appreciate the chance to consider your work, I don't quite feel that I've connected with your material enough to be the best possible agent for it. Please know that this business is highly subjective, and that what doesn't work for one agent may work perfectly for another. I wish you the best of luck as you move forward with your writing career.

Best,

Molly Jaffa
Folio Literary Management

Photo from Writer's Digest article.

So much for my thinking I sensed a like mind for that novel. The lonely business of spreading one's queries over the shrinking field of literary agents continues. Will one bloom every appear in that poisoned field again? Despair is never far away when one embarks on the nearly hopeless task of seeking an agent.

My sights are now zeroed in on Mr. Paul Lucas with Janklow and Nesbit Associates, another young face in an old agency. So many agents are young faces nowadays. Endless photos of unwrinkled, unworried faces. Does this mean that agencies are hiring younger agents to tell them what's what when it comes to younger readers? That would be the smart thing to do...a changing of the guard...which makes this old, weak in the haunches, 75 year old's task appear even harder. However, Mr. Lucas has got a nice, intelligent face, doesn't he, and good luck to him.

Meanwhile, I continue the rewrite for my novel, Delinquent Lives, with input from the meet up group Write To Publish, and I'm hoping to see one or two poems appear in a local anthology. More on that later.  

NO J.K. ROWLING, THIS SILENT BOOMER, BUT...OKAY!

It's Friday. Making progress this week toward my goal. Continued with the rewrite of Delinquent Lives, sent off inquiry to agent for Angie's Choice, participated happily in the Write To Publish meet up on Wednesday afternoon and attended the Ghost Town Poetry open mic on Thursday night, hosted by Cover To Cover Books and Chris Luna where I read two poems, one recently written and the 2nd scrubbed up from a series I wrote while living on the scabland outside of Cheney at The Hermitage. Some very interesting and entertaining poets there of all ages.

My Hermitage

At age 75, I'm feeling more comfortable about writing prose and reading aloud at open mics than at any time in my past. Finally, I accept I'm a good enough writer to be published, but the question of this blog is will that happen? If some of my efforts do end up, as is my goal, at a publishing house other than a self-publishing venture, the end result might be very interesting, but I'm remembering to enjoy the process rather than anticipate the end. 

No doubt what I'm writing will never be another Harry Potter series, but I'll settle for a smaller audience, and I don't have to become a millionaire, though it would be nice if I could send some additional money off to charity as J. K. Rowling has done. Should I promise, right here, that 10% of any profits I might make will go to a charity? 
                                    
The people at the Write To Publish were very accepting and positive about my novel, and I took all comments to heart and gave them considerable attention when I got home. As I said earlier, I've made several very acceptable major alterations in Delinquent Lives for the sake of clarity. Smart thinking about structure and style is everything I can hope for from participating with fellow writers in a workshop. Thank you, Linda Triling.