If you've found yourself checking out Writersdigest.com and Chuck Sambuchino often, there's a good reason. It's a great place to find new agents and now a FREE contest for writers of YA Fiction.

                                     It's  the 19th Dear Lucky Agent Contest, but it's new to me. 

                                                         Hope Springs Eternal, right?

Go for it if you're a YA Fiction writer. But hurry, the contest closes Oct. 29th. That's this Thursday.

  

Pay attention to the social media instructions too. You have to post the contest via two different social media places as part of the submission process. 

Why not enter? You or I might just be one of the top three winners and get our first 10-pages critiqued by Agent Judge Eric Smith of P.S. Literary, an agency I've been reading a lot about lately. Plus winners get a free one-year subscription from WritersMarket.com and a choice of one of any of Chuck Sambuchino's three new books. 

Wishing you good luck with your writing and with the contest.  

Check it out:

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/19th-free-dear-lucky-agent-contest-young-adult-fiction

http://tinyurl.com/nz6n2p8

                      Time to send out more queries instead of sticking this book in a drawer.

                                                   Think about persistence.

Susan Banghart's article in the Fall 2015 SCBWI Bulletin says it all. 

 In Never Stop Believing, she writes about how for writers, "Doubt steals persistence from your toolbox." And how "You must steal it back." She writes about a way to "fight negative thoughts" and "not to do alone." She writes about critique group support and how important it is to be "fortified by  your writing tribe."

Susan is such an important part of our Skyway Writers' writing tribe that her words arriving in print yesterday gave me inspiration and motivation to spend today researching agents. I'm sure she reached many other writers who might be low on their persistence levels. 

Thank you Skyway Writers for being  my tribe. And thank you Susan for reminding all writers to carry on and Never Stop Believing. 

September days spent at Highlights were relaxing and productive. My second year there and  it felt wonderful to return. Time spent with Janet and Augusta was special too, as it had been last year. Plus we met up with a group of Un-workshop writers and just clicked. We exchanged email addresses and plan to keep in touch from time to time. Maybe even meet up again next year.
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But this year I found something special behind my cabin. Although I've grown up with orange trees in easy reach and the scent of orange blossoms floating through the Florida air is my all time favorite, I was in for a fruitful suprise.

I saw a half rotten apple on the ground and figured someone took a bite and pitched it. Not too cool, but hey it's fruit and the woods across from my cabin were probably full of animals that might enjoy a snack.

Then I spied another and another and looked up and spied an apple tree. That was a first for me.

                                        

                                          Apples trees are kind of magical.                 

So, I snapped several photos. Nope, I didn't eat a one. But for me and probably others who've stayed in cabin #18,  that little apple tree was the lovely start of another magical Un-workshop.

If you're ready to send out queries, you'll need to keep a list of what you're sent to whom. Whether you write YA, MG or PBs you'll be happy there's help for you at querytracker.net.

I won't elaborate ( too much)  on how easy it is to use. Check that out for yourself. However, I will say I've ditched my elaborate Excel sheet.  While I'd used QueryTracker to find agents, the track agents part was lost on me. Until now.  Once I realized that feature was available, I was so there.

You can actually create your tracking form online as you peruse the list of agents. What a concept, right? Simple. Less timing consuming. Complete with smiley faces to highlight agents requests for partials and full manuscripts and a little red-faced emoji for rejections. Easy to tell at a glance what your status is with each agent.

And get this, Patrick McDonald, the creator of QueryTracker is a writer who personally experienced the frustration of finding and keeping track of agents. So he simplified the process and shared his creation. Doesn't that make QueryTracker even more endearing?

Read an interview with McDonald on  writeforapples.com.

QueryTracker is also free to writers. A premium membership for $25 a year offers many extra features. How cool is that?

All I have left to say is thank you, McDonald!

Okay so I woke up really early thinking about querying. Like 4:30 a.m. and decided to think positive about the whole process. I mean, I've written hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles and never submitted one thinking it  wouldn't be accepted for publication. Why should sending out a book query be so different?

It shouldn't.


After all, haven't many famous writers been rejected again and again before finally finding someone who believed in their books?  Who you might ask. That's a post for another day,  

This morning, I'll  query an agent or two before the Florida sun rises. I'll visualize an agent smiling as she or he reads my submission. Will  sending positive vibes into the universe or at least to New York City, help my chances of publishing?  Maybe and maybe not,

But I'm thinking about querying and I'm  still smiling.  

 

Query update.

Three out now. Those submissions included a routine requests for manuscript pages, One requested five pages, another ten and the third asked for the first fifty.  One query-only submission was rejected.  I mentioned that in another post. That agent sent a timely and pleasant email. Sure it was a rejection, but...

At least one submission made it to the chosen agent. How do I know for sure?   Literary Agent Taylor Haggerty's computer told me so.  The agent arranged for it to send out a thoughtful and friendly automatic response. What a concept, right?

I say thank you.

The notice made my day. Okay, it wasn't as if  she said I love your book, but writers are thankful for a gesture of respect for their time and effort. At least I feel that way.

No doubt agents are inundated with manuscripts piling upon and around their desks or clogging their in-boxes. Yet, receiving that response was as if I'd walked into the agent's office and she greeted me with a smile. It may seem like I'm making a big deal of a small gesture, but hey, to a writer-in-waiting, it is a big deal. Those of you who send out queries get it.

While a rejection may follow, at least a writer knows she or he isn't waiting in vain. The manuscript arrived. Hallaluah. That's worth a bundle.

So this Florida native wishes warm and sunny days to agents who make querying less stressful, just because they can. 

Still in the middle of the querying process and after sending them out, trying to forget them. Ha! That is easier said than done.

I don't think I'm the only writer who submits and then wonders if the email and submitted pages or synopsis really arrived at it's destination. And I don't mean the office, but to the right person. Or did it end up in spam. Since agents and editors often say they will only respond if they're interested in the book, you'd never know if that happened.

Maybe the key is just to have faith.

After all, this is just part of the process. A part of a writer's life.

But taking time out to play a game with the kids might be a good way to take my mind off emails. To stop waiting for the computer to ding.  Guess I should have been the one to choose the game. Whatever happened to Candy Land?

         Instead we jump right into: The Game of Life.

Looking at that character at the bottom of the board makes me realize I haven't checked my email in at least an hour.  And so it goes...

Great talk today  by my friend author Greg Neri to the Tampa Bay Area members of SCBWI. His topic: Finding the Story: The Journey from Real Life Inspiration to Publication.

Words I'd use to describe the talk: passionate and inspirational!

Thanks Greg!  

Let's take a literary pause ... Happy First Day of Spring!
Up early, per usual and on the road. Just before sunrise, the St. Pete sky was awash in spring hues.

Here are a few more spring things for this special day. Sprigs of basil, rosemary and cilantro from my maybe-they-will-grow-if-I'm-lucky, herb garden. I just learned to pinch the flowers off the basil, so the sprigs of flowers are in a tiny vase. The sprigs make my kitchen smell as if I'm cooking. I'm not. I'm blogging and soon will be writing. That too is per usual, spring, summer, fall and winter.

Okay so this searching for an agent and querying process isn't easy. With all the advice on how important an agent is, you have to be sure to find one that fits with you. On top of that, one that wants  your work. So what that you've spend years writing and editing or that it's the 10th draft.

Using agentquery.com to start the list and then reading interviews, watching videos and listening to pod casts.

I sent a query to Caitie Flum of Liza Dawson Associates -- no pages or synopsis, just a query per submission guidelines-- and received a rejection the same afternoon. A personal one, but 

Ouch! 

However, I was appreciative to get an answer. So many agents and publishers don't have time to reply to their onslaught of queries. I sent a quick TY email and truly appreciated her time and reply. 

Enter damning inner voice saying all those negative things writers tell themselves. But this time, I silenced it pronto. On to the agent list. Found one who wanted historical fiction and even had military listed as an interest. Off went the query and the first 50 pages. Hope raised it's glorious head. Remember:

Now it's a waiting game.

I intend to send  a couple more queries today. Meanwhile, I'm on the 3rd draft of a contemporary, edgy YA. My MG/YA group, the Skyway Writers, are the ones who can help me whip it into shape. 

Writing about the difficult process of finding an agent not only gives me something worthwhile 

( IMHO) to blog about; it's cathartic.

Keep the faith and keep reading. 

I think the reason I haven't blogged much is because I'm not yet traditionally published in the children's literature book world. That's  not an excuse. It's a fact.

I write about other's  successes because I'm happy for them. I know how hard my friends who write have worked to become authors.

But what can I add to the plethora of information out there?

I've felt as if I don't have much to say that's of value. But hey, I really do.
I'm the voice of the struggling-to-find-someone-in publishing-who-believes-in-my-book-as-much-as-I-do group of writers.  The writers-in-waiting.

And the waiting, stinks.

I left working as a registered nurse in ICU to write.  Writing was and is, my bliss. And I've written so much since that time.

Stop back by in a couple days and I'll share some of my journey. Some of the successes that I realize deserve as much attention on my blog as anything else. Why? Because all that writing has made me a better writer. All those newspaper stories, articles, and short stories.

The blog might be of interest if you're a writer-in-waiting, Or if you've just published to compare stories. Maybe just to read something different.

Until I have an agent to thank, an editor to gush over or a published YA novel or picture book to give away to adoring fans, that's what I'll write. Okay, so adoring may be pushing it,  I'll still give props to the writers who are no longer in-waiting!  But from here out, I'll talk about the writing process that will lead up to the day I publish, both the successes and the pitfalls. And I hope readers will find what's said of value.