megatronix

Thank goodness I had that query pitch first thing this morning. The conference started at 9:30 and my time slot was at 9:30. I was SO NERVOUS, and it was good to just get it done. I chatted with a friend from my writing group and he asked me some questions, and then I said, "Actually can I just tell you my pitch?" and he said, "Sure! I mean, I'm no expert, but by all means, fire away!" So I told it to him and he said it sounded cool, and then we talked about how they probably want to know word count and stuff, so he said, "I bet it'd be good to start with that, just to frame it." Then he helped me with the title too, because I said I was considering calling it Webs We Weave, and he said, "What do you think about just: Webs ?" I said, "Ooh, I might maybe like that..."

So! It turns out there was one woman before me, and she scooted on out, and I scooted on in, and we shook hands and introduced ourselves. Then I said, "Ok, so do I just dive right in?" And she said, "Yep, go right ahead!"

So I said, "I have a middle grade novel, it's about 52,000 words, this is my first novel, and it's called Webs."

"Webs?"

"Webs."

"Ok, great!"

"All right! So, Emmilou Bradshaw...." And I gave my pitch.

And then she said, "Wow, this is a really unique story."

"Thanks!"

Then she asked great questions like is Emmi's main story about her achieving courage throughout this coming of age experience? I said yes. She said to make sure it's evident early on that Emmi is not starting out courageous. Because she needs to become that way, it should be a clear transformation.

She asked if I'd be willing to bump Emmi's age up from 10 to 12, because if I want 10 yr old readers, they like to "read up" about 11 or 12 yr olds, and it would work even better that way. I said yes.

I didn't tell her that I have been struggling with Emmi's age forever, because I can see her in my head, but of course, kids all look different at different ages anyway, and she's so precocious and mature that I just thought of her as a super mature 8 yr old. But apparently 8 yr olds don't read about 8 yr olds, so I went with 10, and then, like I said, the agent told me that 8-10 yr old readers like to read about 11-12 yr olds. So! That's something to consider and work through as I go back through!

Then she had interesting thoughts on another aspect of the story. Ok, I'm going to use spoilers, but I'll put them behind a cut!

( spoilers! )


So then she said, "Ok, well I'm definitely interested and I would love to see more. So, yeah, please query me."

"Ok, great!" I said. "I will absolutely do that."

"Just put in the subject line that you met me here, and in your intro. And we'll go from there. I can't wait to read more!"

And I thanked her and walked away. And then madly texted Meander and then Joe to let them know what had happened. Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Then I sat through hours of tips and tricks and thoughts on query letters and writing and pacing and character arcs........ There were five sessions, y'all. That's a shit ton of info, honestly. I took copious notes. It was good times.

Now I am so tired, but also so happy. And I just want to write and write and write to figure out what the hell I should do with this insane story of mine. I was already through page 100 (out of 177) in my second go-'round of revisions. (I say second, I'm not including the times I've gone through and piece-meal edited things throughout.) SooooOOOooooOOoooo... yes. I am going to go crazy with completing edits and hopefully feeling like it's all polished as possible by... the end of the week? And then submit this thing to the agent, and see what happens! I mean, she'd still have to like it, and want it, but the fact that she even wants to see it feels so promising and fun.

I don't know what'll happen with this, but today? Today just feels SO FUN and amazing.