Too many times I’ve heard the horror stories. I’ve read numerous blogs on how long it took. Query after painstaking query. Rejection upon rejection. But you don’t focus on those ones. You focus on the ones that made it.
This really is a journey. Below is a snippet of my second scene in The Hidden. It reminds me of the road to publication. Rocks, boulders, parts where it feels too steep to run. And then those downhill moments, where you feel the energy of desire pulsing through you.
The lake overflowed with winter rain. Everything pungent, like open earth; bleeding.
Moss made the ground slippery, especially those downhill leaps. Over rocks, fallen trunks. It kept me quick and strong on my toes, kept me vigilant. It strengthened my thighs and calves. Tight core, shoulders strong, eyes seeking hidden dangers. This excited me the most.
Sweat dripped down my forehead, made a trail to my mouth. I licked the salt and kept pushing on.
I never got this kind of a rush at the gym. Steadily running on a treadmill with a plasma attached, flicking morning show presenters, just didn’t affect my senses the way this terrain did.
Even running along the city streets; dodging prams, bikes, and latex-clad walkers wasn’t sufficient anymore.
This scene, with the lake, blocked sky and bird chorus for company, provided both a meditative state and a hit of endorphins. Could this be all a human needed? It filled some vacant space within me. Jumping over a boulder, I landed with two feet. The crunch of leaves being flattened felt great. I ducked under a low branch. A twig scraped my shin, drawing blood, but I continued running. My face was red like the toadstool I’d just squashed, leaving the perfect imprint of a cross on its surface.
If you’re someone like me who has an obsession with reading about the facts, dates, time-frames of agents responding to writers, then you’ll hopefully get something out of my own experiences so far.
- Firstly, I sent my partial MS out on June 14th 2020 to about 5 agents. It’s now August 19 as I write this. In that first week I got requests to send the full manuscript to 3 London agents! Couldn’t believe my luck.
- During these 8/9 weeks I have submitted to 40 literary agents across London and NYC. (I need to add that most of those won’t get back until 10-12 weeks) I’ve been submitting to some even last week.
- In that time, I have received 9 requests to send the full manuscript.
- 3 of those agents in London then got back to me to re-structure and re-submit to them.
- 1 of those London agents rejected my re-submission.
- Another in Australia rejected the full manuscript.
- Another NYC agent requested my partial.
- I’m still waiting on 8 agents in NYC, London and Australia who requested the full manuscript.
Over the course of 8 weeks, I think that’s really good, averaging 1 literary agent per week requesting my full. A few years ago, with my previous manuscript, that was unheard of. I only received five requests for the full MS after a whole year!
Honestly, it’s been an up and down journey of emotions.
Next up, I’ll post about my query letters, as I really feel like I’m getting better at the queries. The structure and style is getting more attraction that it ever did years ago when I submitted my previous manuscript. Plus, the first 50 pages are also gaining a lot of attention.
I’ve also created an excel graph charting the time frame, rejects (whether they were personal or generic) and what their feedback was.
See that, in my coming posts!
Thanks for stopping by,
Holly
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