“I think this first novel will sell, but I’m not sure if it’s going to be your debut novel. Then Brilliant Agent called me one day about the manuscript on submission. About three months after the first submission went out, I submitted another manuscript called Scones and Sensibility to my agent, who in her brilliant agent fashion, sent me a long, much-needed revision letter. Of course, in the meantime I continued to write, write, and write some more because writer’s can’t stop writing and it did help me get my mind off of the gathering rejection emails filling my in-box. There it met with one rejection after another until I had racked up around fifteen very nice and complimentary rejections and one “I’d like to see revisions if she’s willing” responses. Okay, so anyway, my agent began to send one of my manuscripts out into the great wide world of publishing. That manuscript is something I’m still revising right now! And to back-track for a second, the first manuscript my agent sent out was NOT the manuscript in that very first query letter. It was very exciting and completely nerve-wrecking. That of course happened with the help of chocolate, and my amazing critique group.Īnd one lonely query to a brilliant agent at an amazing Agency turned into a partial…which turned into a full…which turned into a revision letter…which turned into a request to see more of my writing…which turned into a contract!Īnd then your agent hooked you up with a publisher – what was that process like?

That this-this writing stories thing-was something I was born for and meant for and that I just had to keep trying. And though at times I thought that maybe I should just give up, I knew beyond any doubt that I couldn’t. Obviously after the first through ten informal rejections, my hopeful abandon turned into something that resembled more of a pleaful begging as I slid my envelope and SASE into the mailbox. I went into my first query with hopeful abandon thinking that surely this first agent would think that my beloved manuscript was brilliant and they would be knocked to the floor in awe.

Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland