Once It Is Sold

A New Year: Looking Ahead

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 | Once It Is Sold, The Writing Life | 2 Comments

As 2008 draws to a close, I, like so many, think not only of the year just passed, but of what the new year might bring. With my book sold, I have hope for more progress with my work: more sales, building a readership, finding the people who will benefit the most from my novel, and who will find the most joy in it. But I am also grateful for the year just passed, for its challenges as well as its benefits. Changing agents, learning more about my work and how to make it better, were all challenges that at first seemed like obstacles. But each led me to new places, places I would never have gone, to country I would not otherwise have seen.

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High Concept: Where Art Meets Commerce

Thursday, December 11th, 2008 | Once It Is Sold, Selling Your Work, The Writing Life | No Comments

Last night, a couple of friends took me to dinner to celebrate my long-awaited sale. One of them was Elana Roth from the Caren Johnson Literary Agency. We had an interesting discussion of what makes a “high concept” story. Elana works with Children’s fiction, Middle Reader’s fiction, and YA fiction. My focus is adult historical fiction, but storytelling is storytelling. What makes an agent or an editor hear a pitch or an idea and say, “Yes, I have to read that”?

 

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Getting The Call

Friday, November 21st, 2008 | Once It Is Sold, Selling Your Work, The Writing Life | 1 Comment

As a writer who has spent ten years pursuing my art, getting the call from my agent that my book sold was the highlight not only of this year, but of my life to date.  It is hard to convey the significance of this. I am still trying to process the experience.  Everyone has a dream, whatever that dream might be. My dreams, like those of most people, have shifted somewhat over time. From a fasciantion with acting and theatre, I moved into writing fiction ten years ago. Writing novels is all I have wanted to do for the last ten years. I have written more than one complete novel, and now that I have sold one, I am delirious with joy.

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