Before The Electrons Were Dry

Revise the query and submit. It's a common practice amongst those who would like to see their novel in print.

Why not pitch to Matt McGowan at Frances Goldin's firm? Surely he was trawling for queries when he updated his Publishers Marketplace page this morning.

Like a shirt at the dry cleaners, it was in by nine and out by noon. Before the electrons had a chance to dry on the virtual page, I received my reply: "I don't think I would be the best agent for this and so I am going to pass." And best of luck trying to sell it to someone else, he says.

Caren Johnson says she's looking for commercial fiction, something with a bit of humor. She needed twenty-four hours to analyze my single page submission before concluding that it wasn't for her because: "the subject isn't something that we are interested in, the idea is interesting, but the execution is flawed, one of our own authors is already writing a similar book, etc."

I've twenty-five queries still floating around out there, along with a partial manuscript, and while it's disappointing to be rejected, it's a relief to be able to move on to someone else.

The best cure for the distraction and frustration of waiting for replies is to settle down and get to work on a new story. I've got my research documents stacked up neatly. There's a couple of pages of a short story already written and just waiting for more words.....where's that drop of motivation gone off to?