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...