Lucky Number JEIL1TZZ: Part Two

Back in January, I wrote a post I called Lucky Number JEIL1TZZ about my experience with Authoress’s Secret Agent contest. For more details, feel free to read that post, but here’s a brief overview. I’d entered my manuscript’s first 250 words and Authoress’s bot randomly picked me, which meant Authoress posted my entry on her blog (along with forty-nine other entries). It turned out that the secret agent wasn’t really interested in my genre, young adult science fiction, but more historical genres.

This should have been the end of the story. It wasn’t.

One thing I’m discovering about this writing world is that there’s never an end to the surprises. Just when I’m sure I’m at the bottom of failure, something happens that shoves me even lower OR something happens that gives me hope and puts a smile on my face. The Secret Agent contest is an example of the latter.

A day or two after the contest’s secret agent was revealed and I learned she wasn’t interested in my genre, I received an email from Authoress. Another agent had read my entry and wanted more, a query and the first few pages. I read this email sitting in my car stuck in snow-induced bad Cincinnati traffic on my way to work. I squirmed, I shrieked, I sent emails to critique partners.

My work day was long and busy, but I squeezed in the time to Google this agent. I researched enough that I was excited to send my query and I knew exactly what personalized details I wanted to include. By the time I made it home that evening, I was bouncing from tension, adrenaline, and my need to send the query NOW.

So I sent my query. I sent emails to my CPs saying I’d done it. And I waited.

I waited…and waited.

Nothing in the publishing industry is fast, but the wait for this agent’s response was interminable. I loved what I’d read during my research and I was SO DAMN HOPEFUL. When the agent’s response finally came, it was short. In a few brief sentences, the agent rejected me. I won’t give you the specifics—I’m still mulling them over with some help from my CPs—but I will tell you that it was the most positive rejection I’ve received. It’s also the only rejection for this MS.

So if you frequent my blog, I may have lied to you a little. I’ve said I never queried WORLD’S EDGE, but that’s not true. I queried once back in October (maybe?) during a Twitter #MSWL day before I knew what I was doing. I also queried once in January. The October query is irrelevant because I’ve learned and changed so much since then. But the January query…that was my first real shot for this MS. The rejection hinted at things I already knew, things I’ve already addressed. It also hinted that I’ve got a better chance with this MS than I thought. If not this MS, there’s hope for another.

I’m not lying this time when I say I’m not querying my MS. I’m still revising, still working with my CPs, but now I’m feeling restless. It’s funny how a rejection can make you excited to query more. I want to query NOW. I’ll wait a little longer, though.