Thankful for Agents Day - Thank You Krista Goering!

Today for our month of thankfulness, we are saying thanks to agents (and thanks to Christine for the idea :) )

Even if you don't have an agent yet, I'm sure you can join with me in this one. Agents are really amazing people. They pour through hundreds of queries, submissions, and manuscripts, and spend countless hours helping to develop amazing projects that they then spend even more time submitting. The sheer amount of work they do, often for little or no money and very often on their own time, is just staggering. What an incredible, dedicated bunch of people.

I want to send a HUGE thank you to my agent, Krista Goering. I was terrified when we scheduled our first phone call LOL I mean, this was an AGENT, who was interested in ME :D But she put me right at ease. I have loved working her on my non-fiction projects. She's a wonderful agent. She always keeps me updated on anything going on, she responds to my emails faster than my own family, and patiently answers even my dumbest questions :) She even sent me a picture of my editors when she ran into them at a conference :D Sooo fun to see the faces of the people working on my book :)

I feel like I can go to her with any issues I may have with projects, present and future, and she is always there with some help or advice. She's been a pleasure to work with and I look forward to working with her on many more books. I can't thank her enough for all the hard work she does on my behalf :)

Krista reps fiction as well as non-fiction, so if you are looking for an agent, I highly recommend her :) Be sure to head to her awesome new website to check out her submission guidelines and what she's looking for.

Why are you thankful for agents? Is there any particular agent you'd like to send a thank you shout out to?

NaNo stats: Okay, let's just say I'm thankful that I have a little bit of a cushion, even though it is rapidly dwindling. I am going to beef up these numbers today if it kills me, and it just well might, but dang it all, I'm gonna try! :) I pulled a measly 842 yesterday. *le sigh* I'm going to go clean my house real quick so I can get some actual writing done today :)

Celebration Contest!

 

Well, my fabulous readers, I believe I promised you a contest :)

How about a super easy contest with lots of opportunities for extra entries?

How To Enter:

To enter the contest, simply leave me a comment on this post. You can say anything you want, just a quick "hi!" (try and keep it nice though ;-D ) and that's it! You are entered!

Extra Entry Opportunities:

1. Be or become a follower of this blog = 1 extra entry

2. Blog it, tweet it, Facebook it, or MySpace it = 1 extra entry per announcement = 4 possible extra entries

3. Put it on your blog's sidebar = 2 extra entries

4. Be or become a follower of my other blog, Papers, Prose, and Poetry (click HERE or on the link in the sidebar) = 5 extra entries

That is a grand total of 12 possible extra entries  :D

Leave me your tally with links to your posts in your comment. Everyone will go on to a spread sheet and a handy random number generator will choose the winner.

And now for the prizes (drum roll please......)

One lucky winner will win:

A query critique from my ever awesome agent, Krista Goering

A copy of the incredible Query Queen Elana Johnson's e-book - From the Query to the Call

and

A $20 dollar gift card to Barnes and Noble.

Depending on the response, I may just have to throw something else fabulous into the prize pot :)


So hurry and enter!!!! I will be accepting entries for one week, from today, Monday Feb 22nd, until midnight on Monday March 1st.

The winner will be announced on Tuesday, March 2nd.

Happy Entering Everyone!!

Today I Am Thankful For......

One of the most valuable groups of people in the writing world are agents. They are definitely worthy of a thankful post :) I am extremely thankful for my agent, Krista Goering. For non-fiction, many publishing houses will accept unagented submissions. However, while I could figure out how to send a query and proposal, after that, I'd be pretty clueless. I certainly wouldn't be able to negotiate better terms for my contracts or make sure I'm getting the biggest advance or royalty possible. I have no contacts in the non-fiction world and pretty much no idea who would be the best editor to contact or the best house to query. Krista handles all of that for me.

Not only does she handle all the paperwork, she also helps me with my projects, editing, coming up with new ideas, finding ways to get my name out there, be more marketable. She's always available if I have questions and quickly gets back to me no matter what the reason for my email.

I think agents are some of the hardest working people out there. I know writers often get frustrated, especially during the query and submission process, with non-responses or slow responses. But think about it from the agents' perspective. They get thousands of queries every year, hundreds of submissions - and that is on top of all the work they must do for their clients. And they don't get paid for most of the time and effort they put in. Agents are simply incredible and I, for one, am very grateful they are out there.

WIP Wednesday

Quote of the Day:

I always figured that every word that managed to squeeze itself from my pen had to be immortal. Turns out they're all disposable. What a relief.
~Tom Howe

Well I had an awesome week this week. First up, my YA Urban Fantasy WiP - I have completed through chapter 18, so I only have 3 chapters left. Very exciting. I have been letting my mother and sister read it as I get the chapters done, and they have been harassing me by phone and email whenever I slow down. Great motivation for getting done, and very encouraging - I at least have 2 fans that don't think it sucks :D

And on to the big non-fiction news:


I am very pleased to report that I have signed with Krista Goering, who will represent my non-fiction book, From Papers to Poetry. I spoke with her the other day and she was just wonderful. She is interested in taking a look at my fiction projects also, so I may just win the jackpot and have one agent rep everything I do. But in either case, I am very excited to have her as my non-fiction agent :) Now I just have to get the manuscript finished LOL