Down to the Wire

I received an email from my agent last week. She declared Blown Red the most exciting project she's worked on in some time and says she is energized to be kicking off 2013 by devoting her full attention to it.

I've been reflecting on what it all means. For me, the fun part is over and the stressful part is about to begin. Let's just say (and I still think it is a bit of a long shot) that it actually sells. Then what? I'm anticipating nerve-wracking meetings with literary editors and more long hours of re-writing and polishing. Then comes the horror of promoting the book. Anne M. casually asked me how much I'd be able to reveal about my own experience with the underground railroad in magazine articles and on the radio. Good God!

And from what I've read, it seems that most successful authors must devote themselves to establishing and maintaining a witty and erudite online presence. Oh man...I'm doomed.

But I may be getting ahead of myself. I'm expecting that I should know by the end of January whether the book is going to sell quickly to one of the big publishers or whether it is going to take a lot longer.. Anne said she would be 'furious' if one of the Big Three didn't jump at it, but then again, drivel like Fifty Shades of Grey is far more popular these days than another kick-ass girl.

Meanwhile, I thought it would be interesting to chronicle just how many hoops I have jumped through to get this far, and how long it has taken:

• January, 2010 to December, 2010. While taking "A Novel Approach' with James Dewar and Sue Reynolds I completed a first draft of over 700 pages. I took a 4 month sabbatical from work during this period which helped a lot, both in terms of creativity and in the sheer number of hours I could devote to writing.
• Another 6 months to pare that behemoth down to a more reasonable 500 page, second draft. Still, way too long, but getting there. At this point, I gave the manuscript to several cold readers and using their excellent feedback I crafted a third draft..
•  My sister, Lesslie, asked her business acquaintance, Don Oravec, the Executive Director of the Writer's Trust if he would mind reading the manuscript. Nice man that he is, he agreed immediately. Don read it during his Florida vacation in September of 2011 and within a week sent an email in which he heaped unbelievable praise on the manuscript. He suggested we get together, and it was during that meeting that he called me a 'real writer' and  recommended me to Anne McDermid. He was kind enough to tell me that it was the first time in 8 years of reading manuscripts of friends and families that he had ever recommended an author to an agent. Wow! I was bowled over.
• Throughout the Fall of 2011 I heard nothing from Anne and eventually sent out query letters to several literary agents in Canada and USA. In the end I had five agents ask to see the entire manuscript and an offer of representation from one of them.
• Just before Christmas of 2011 an apologetic Anne McDermid told me she'd forgotten to follow up with me and asked me to re-send the manuscript. Within days I got her enthusiastic response. She asked to meet in the new year.
• In January of 2012, I met with Anne McDermid and during our two hour interview she made me an offer to join 'Team McDermid'. After a weekend of pretending to think about it - I jumped at this amazing opportunity.
• Anne wasn't sure if she would offer the book as is, or whether it would need further editing. Sure enough, after some initial inquiries, she determined that we would have more success if the book received a professional edit.
• Enter Becky Toyne, a well known editor and literary expert. She took several weeks to read the manuscript then got back to me with her suggestions in June, 2013. Nothing much...haha...all I had to do was tighten the plot by about 25,000 words and make the main character a heck of a lot stronger. Sure...no problem!
• For the next 4 months I toiled every single day, re-arranging the plot sequence, adding nuance, turning the main character into a determined young woman that readers would care about, and pared the word count down to an acceptable 104,000, or about 350 pages. 
• Deep breath and back it went to Anne McDermid by the end of September, 2012 for her verdict. Of course my timing stunk. It was now the Fall book launch season and she couldn't give it much attention until November. I put it out of my head but was thrilled when, by the end of November she wrote to tell me that she LOVED the changes I had made. Woohoo!! Success! She mused at that point whether it would be better to wait until the new year to put it out for offer, noting that publishers were sick to death of reading manuscripts, the holidays were coming up and it would stand a better chance when people came back after Christmas. 
• While I waited (again) she asked that I get her a synopsis of the second book, as she intends to sell it as a series and not a stand alone novel. She also asked for a little biographical blurb as well as a one page story on how I got the idea and my own personal experience of the Underground Railroad. I'd already done some work on the second book but took the time to really flesh out the plot over the ensuing weeks and I'm glad I did. It is going to be much easier to write once I get going in earnest.
• Finally, the email that arrived last week from Anne, saying that she is back to work on January 7 and can't wait to get cracking on this exciting new project.  

For this first time writer, this is what it has taken to get my novel to this stage. Amazing, isn't it? I never would have predicted that what began as a whim would evolve into a real live, honest to goodness thriller. Or, that it would take so much work, or that I would encounter so many helpful people along the way.  Most of all, I had no idea it would take so much TIME!

And now (drum roll, please)  it has all come down to this....

GOOD LUCK,

DUMPY GRACE!!