Why?
Oh, why?
Why did I decide to check my e-mails in the middle of Parents' Evening?
There was a gap of ten minutes, just thought I'd check what was happening in e-mail-land, like you do.
So, there amongst the usual emails and regular notices I spotted the name of one of the agencies I submitted NEAR EDGWARE to at the end of December. (You remember the miserable post about attaching the wrong version of the first three chapters in January? Illness? Sending a drafting copy instead of the one I sweated blood over?) I sighed. Left the email until last.
But, with nothing else to do and only a minute until the next parent (already looking at books in the room next door) was due to pop in for my teacherly insights into the nature and progress of her precious poppet (I have a slightly different view, so I wasn't rushing) , I opened the e-mail and thought I read it.
I read the little black squiggles again because they seemed to be saying stuff like:
Dear Ms Smith
Thank you for your e-mail; we enjoyed reading your sample chapters. Would you please e-mail the complete manuscript. Here's what to do :-
When I wanted to run around doing the chicken dance of "But-I've-Never-Even-Read-What-To-Do-Now-On-Any-Of-The-On-line-Blogs" , I had to remember how to string polite phrases that adaquetly described the disparity between the fantasy and reality of the Mother's pride and joy.
At home later, I broke every one of Nathan's rules: my crowning achievement being to send it to the wrong e-mail address only to get a - fortunately, still polite - explanation of where I should st... send my submission from the agent herself.
This was my tenth submission (the next four I effectively disbarred from doing more than making the agent's reader laugh) so, number ten has proven to be a very lucky number!
I don't know if it is polite to say which agency has staff with incredibly impeccable taste?
However, has anyone ever mentioned how fabulous Sally, at Eve White Literary Agent, is?
