And can we just pause here a moment so I can give a cheer? I still feel the need to pull out pompoms every time I write that.
*Attempts to jump around and cheer. Stubs toe and fall back in chair*
Okay, thanks. Glad to get that out of my system. This is one part of the after-agent perspective, at least if you took as long signing said delightful agent as I did. I feel an upsurge of gratitude every day not only that I can now work on notes from my agent and trust in the advice of my agent and know that she has my back, but also that it was all worth it.
And that's the perspective I'm talking about. I wonder how different our world would be if we knew from the onset which endeavors would be worth it. Aside from any discussion on dreams and the magic quality of believing in something that is hoped for, I'm sure we as a people would have already reached many milestones we haven't.
Perhaps we'd have colonized the moon, for example. Or built great underwater power stations which harness the currents of the ocean. I'm sure many people would put that extra umph into education, exercise and their other personal wellness goals. Unless of course all those things would not be worth it--but once again, a discussion for another time.
I was thinking on all this as I walked the trails of a spot near our house where they've placed signs of the planets in our solar system beside the path. First there's the sun, then the inner planets, moving on to the outer, and finally, way down the path, you find the poor frozen planets of Neptune, Uranus and Pluto.
Ice balls orbiting a sun so far away it's hard for us to even imagine the distance.
Well, I walked it off.
From the little painted sign of the earth there are 617 steps to to Pluto. Six hundred and Seventeen. That's a lot! Harder to keep count of than you'd guess, too!
To put that in perspective, there were only 35 steps from Earth to the Asteroid belt. So you see that Pluto is really out there!
What does all this have to do with the agent perspective? Only this. That had I known how long it would take and how much freezing cold effort and light years of challenge would go into my signing an agent, I would have been very discouraged. Truth, sometimes in the middle when I'd tried so hard and gotten (it seemed) nowhere, I was very discouraged. It can begin to feel that you are the last person on the planet for whom the agent thing will work out. That your writing karma must be truly bad, and in fact that you made a pact with the devil in a past life which has doomed you in this.
But on the other side, having come back from the cold dark landscape that is Pluto, standing on the Earth with a grin on your face, it's so worth it. And that's something to hang on to while you travel.
I think your next to the last paragraph sums it up perfectly. All I can say is huge congrats and ditto about the feeling.
ReplyDeleteThe big relief to me was not thinking (obsessing) about querying all the time. The load was even heavier than I'd guessed it was.
I suspect we're not the only ones who felt that way! I hope writers still in the trenches can read this and feel a little lighter. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd NOT querying is truly a relief on every front!
Yes! I now know there's at least one person in the literary industry that thinks my stuff has got what it takes. That's one more than I had a little while ago. And it makes all the difference.
ReplyDeleteBeing on my second round of agent edits, I sometimes get the feeling that I stink at this writing stuff, but then I remind myself that I have an agent who's in my corner and won't leave my side. And she was well worth the wait!
Very worth the wait! And I know exactly what you mean with the do-I-stink worries. I think it comes form having something on the line, but I know we can do it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your perspective. It gives me hope!
ReplyDeleteGrats Suzanne! We - and the Chicks - have been in at least one contest together. I'm still in the trenches so it was great to read this. BTW How long exactly DID you query for?? :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats! I recently signed with a fantastic agent also, so I'm nodding at much of this. :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on signing with an agent! I can totally relate to the long haul that sometimes comes before good news. I think maybe that makes it all the sweeter, though :)
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