A New Publishing Credit!

Yesterday I heard from the editor of Ohio Valley Parent Magazine. They are interested in publishing one of my parenting articles about how to get your kids out of the house on time. They plan to publish it in their back-to-school issue this fall. I’m proud to appear in their publication and wonder if any of my friends in the Midwest will see it.

When it comes out, I’ll post a link to it here. Thanks for all your continued support!

Slowing Down

I received a rejection just a few minutes ago from one of the two agents I most wanted to work with. I have to admit I’m a little sad. It seems harder to roll with rejection from someone I let myself get excited about.

Elizabeth Wales was a long shot for me. She’s been in the business for years, happens to be in Seattle, and represents some bigger names. But she got my hopes up when I met her at the Pacific Northwest Writer’s conference because she was the only agent that was also interested in my background as an environmental scientist. Ms. Wales represents several scientists and engineers who write non-fiction books, an area I dream about breaking into someday. Her form rejection e-mail is posted below.

Lynn Price of Behler Publications blogs regularly that writers are too often in a hurry to be found and get their work published. She reasons that this rush compromises quality. I am definitely feeling in a hurry sometimes. I know what I want and I want it to happen now, not two years from now. I’m impatient about lots of things, so why not this? But I have reasons for wanting to make things happen sooner rather than later. How long can I learn about writing and plug along without actually earning a living at it? Most people don’t have the “luxury” that I have at the moment. My impatience is spurred by the fact that I don’t know how long I have the luxury either.

So, I’ll try not to be in such a damn hurry. If I don’t end up with an agent after this round (I’m only waiting to hear from a couple), then I’ll be patient and finish the manuscript and submit to another group of carefully selected individuals. Maybe in February.

In the meantime, I’ll expand my platform (writing resume) by publishing some more articles in magazines, and maybe branching out into public speaking.

I’m still planning to participate in my custom version of NaNoWriMo. Please let me know if you are going to join me in this adventure.

Ahhh, the rejection:

Dear Lorraine,

I enjoyed meeting you at the PNWA conference this year.

After reading Egg Mama, my agency must pass on offering you representation. Because of the amount of client work in our office, we try to make quick decisions on all possible new clients and projects. Our process is ultimately subjective and we do the best we can.

We wish only to encourage you even though we can’t pursue working with you at this time. Thank you for sharing your work with us.  We wish you the very best with your writing. 

All the best, 

Elizabeth Wales

Wales Literary Agency, Inc.

PO Box 9426

Seattle, Washington 98109

waleslit@waleslit.com

www.waleslit.com

twitter.com/waleslit

Tel.. 206 284 7114