An editor once told me I needed two yesses in my writing life to be a published novelist. The first yes was from an agent. “Pass that gateway,” he said, “and you’re halfway there.” But I’ve had three agents, so…
“I love these pages. This is exactly the type of novel I represent. Send it to me!” The agent was saying all the things you dream an agent will say when you sign up for a Manuscript Mart appointment at…
Note: GrubStreet’s Muse and the Marketplace is cancelled this year due to Covid-19. I’ve screwed up so many Manuscript Mart meetings at GrubStreet’s Muse and the Marketplace conference, I’ve been through Hell. I have been disconsolate, heard Satan’s calumnies, been…
On a recent winter night—dark but not stormy—a dozen writers at various points in their novels gathered over chicken pot pie, roasted vegetables, spinach salad with grapefruit, and chocolate cookies to swap stories and advice about finding a good agent….
A funny thing happens when you finish your manuscript and you are ready to begin your search for representation. Suddenly you are required to make the giant leap from artist to businessperson—someone who can write a sharp query letter and…
I don’t have nightmares about showing up for a college exam having not studied. My palms don’t sweat at the idea of getting onto an airplane. Spiders don’t send me into a conniption fit. But ask me what books would…