In all honesty, part of me never thought I'd ever get to write one of these.
But, after years and years, I have a LITERARY AGENT!!!
So, rewind many many years ago to 2nd grade. I'd just come back from summer vacation and went from the lowest reading group to the highest, all thanks to my mom. She tortured herself that summer, listening to me read to her every night.
With my ability to read and enjoy books, I declared I wanted to write my own.
I started many stories, but never finished any until college. Looking back on it, I never should have queried it. That story had actually started out as a Buffy fanfic that quickly evolved. Still, those roots were there. Plus, I'd only just begun learning how to write.
My next book, still near and dear to my heart and one I hope to revisit someday, got a decent amount of requests from queries. Ultimately, I shelved it with the plan to gut it in the future. My next book, again had requests. Feedback consistently said the pacing was off, and in the end I trunked it. I do plan to use aspects of it in future stories.
My next completed story resonated the least with me—my first foray into middle grade. This wasn't the book for that, but it's definitely an age group I'd like to write for.
I had a few other stories started, and all to about 15-20k. Eventually, I got stuck and moved on.
Cue quarantine. Around this time, an author I really liked and followed on Patreon, Tiana Warner. She and her sister started Blockbuster YA, a coaching program, and we're offering free spots to people from Patreon. I learned how to outline. Before them, I'd been a pantser. Now, I know how to plan a book. They also provided a space to verbally brainstorm—one of the best ways I solve story problems.
To my utter shock, I was amazingly productive during quarantine. MONSTERS was drafted in around 6 months, and was the strongest of all my stories so far. A few betas and a CP (who insisted he thought this was The Book) later, I began querying. Everyone who'd read it so far loved it, and I'd brought it as far as I could l. My CP’S one comment had been that if I'd queried him with it, was that he would have asked for an R&R, but he couldn't explain what changes I could implement.
I had absolutely zero requests. I'd started querying MONSTERS almost resigned.
When I queried Ann Rose through the Prospect Agency and didn't receive the email confirmation, I DMed her on Twitter. She responded immediately that yes she'd gotten it, and that she loved the title. When I woke up the next morning, I had an email requesting the full manuscript! I sent it to her, and then queried some more.
About 5 or 6 months later, Ann emailed me asking if I'd be if I wanted to chat on the phone. I mean, of course! Though I sent a much more professional response.
The very first thing Ann said was how much she loved my main character. She LOVED the story.
But.
I had a pacing issue. Once the main character’s love interest was introduced, it started bouncing genres. Her suggestion, cut all that and bring the LI aware of the MC’s problem sooner. And she had suggestions on how to do so. The thing was, I'd WANTED to explore more of the LI being directly involved in the plot, but word count and pacing prevented that.
Ann then said the magic words: it was and wasn't an R&R. I could revise the first 10 chapters and synopsis, and then resubmit.
Was I interested in doing that?
Yes.
Yes I was.
I pretty much knew then that if Ann offered representation I would accept. She shared my vision for the story. She saw the potential for it, how to fix things my CP hadn't been able to think of.
I was a woman possessed. I revised those chapters in only a few months, had my CP look them over, and then sent them off.
I hadn't bothered sending more queries after the phone call with Ann. I didn't see the point. She'd been the only one interested, and now I was going to have a much better book. If Ann did pass, then I'd query again.
Once I sent the chapters back to Ann, I continued working on the revision.
Two and a halfish months later, I had another email from Ann. She loved my MC, and would I be interested in another phone call.
Again.
Absolutely.
Now, I'd gotten a feeling from that first call, that she really wanted to offer rep and that I had a VERY good chance with the revision.
I tried not to let myself get too optimistic. Years of passes do that to you. In the end, Ann offered and I had to force myself not to accept on the spot. I asked the recommended questions and spoke to a few of her clients before I allowed myself to say yes.
STATS
Number of books queried: 5
Years querying: 10
Number of THESE MONSTROUS HEARTS queries: 20
Number of Requests: 1
Revise and Resubmits: 1
Offers: 1
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