Your Manuscript Is In The Hands Of Agents. Now What?

So, you finally let go, and sent your work-in-progress (WIP) on the next phase of its journey. In other words, to that literary agent or agents who requested your full manuscript, and who might decide to offer you representation if he/she thinks he/she might be able to sell it to a publisher.

You gave the first three chapters another quick read-through; you formatted it in precisely the form requested by the agent/agents (usually a Word document in Times New Roman font)  and you emailed it because no-one uses snail mail anymore. (Thank heaven! Has anyone recently priced sending a double-spaced, 400-page ms. by Fedex or UPS?)

So, now you’re on a glorious Spring Break-type of hiatus.

Spring Break For Authors ?

Well, no. Not really.

I thought I’d be enjoying this time when my latest, my third novel (working title, Payback) was finally out of the house and in the hands of agents, knowing that there was absolutely no more I could do (for the time being) by way of tweaking or revising or editing. But, that’s not quite the way it’s turning out.

For starters, there’s no getting away from a WIP. You can’t just forget about it. No, you have to torture yourself and read it and re-read it, trying to see it through the eyes of another, specifically an agent. So, you try to wipe out of your mind everything you know about the story, and pretend you’ve never seen it before.

To that end, you download it to your iphone to read on the beach ( how would I like this if I was on vacation?); you email it as a pdf to your Kindle (how does this compare to other novels I’ve purchased from Amazon?);  you take your Kindle on the next plane ride, out of your usual writing/editing environment to look at it with “new” eyes.

OMG! More Tweaking Needed!

And, OMG, you discover there is more you can do by way of tweaking and editing. So, next time you open your manuscript on your iphone and/or Kindle, you also bring along a little notebook ( a really little notebook so your husband doesn’t think you’re still working on your WIP because you told him you were all done!) and you jot down pages where you think you could make improvements.

And now, you’re not so sure about your new novel. So you join QueryTracker.net, a website that allows authors to check out literary agents. Information provided by the website includes stats on an agent’s response times and the type of feedback they give on rejected manuscripts.

But of course, none of the above fill the 20 hours a day you previously spent on writing and editing your manuscript. So, you look for other challenges.

The Waiting Game

In my case, I signed up to play in a tennis singles tournament even before I sent my WIP to the first agent requesting it. I wrote about it at the time. I had no high hopes of doing well. I enrolled knowing I would be throwing myself to the lions.

As predicted, it is not going well. My most recent opponent, Ria (pictured with me) is a superior player, and a two-time singles champion in the league. Ria slaughtered me 6-0, 6-1. It was only a small consolation to learn that there’s a quarter of a century age difference between us!

I also decided to read all six mysteries (pictured) nominated for the Edgar Allen Poe Best Novel Award — and see if my choice for Best matches that of the awards panel which announces the winners at a grand Edgar Awards banquet in New York City on April 25.

So far, I’ve finished Catherine Ryan Howard’s The Liar’s Girl, and House Witness by Mike Lawson. Currently reading: A Gambler’s Jury by Victor Methos. Still to come: Walter Mosley, Lawrence Osborne and Deanna Raybourn.

And Then?

I’ve prepared myself for a solid wait. Agents will inform you on their websites that their decisions may take up to eight weeks and longer.

So, just in case, I’ve planned accordingly: My British bestie Julie will be arriving soon to help me wait (we’ll be taking in the tennis at the Miami Open and checking out the “happening” South Beach scene before driving down the Keys to Key West.)

And then, just because spring is almost here, I’m signing up for a new Masterclass. Nothing to do with writing this time. Instead, I’ll be indulging my other passion, cooking, by watching Alice Walters, a pioneer of the farm-to-table movement and owner of the famed Chez Panisse restaurant in California.

Next Novel

What’s that you say? Shouldn’t I be working on my next novel? No, don’t back away. I’m not going to slap you. Of course, I’m working on another. I have chapters, enough for a first draft. Now, all it needs is some tweaking, revising, rewriting — and editing. Oh, and an agent who’ll fall in love with it!