Comments on: Good Heavens

By: JLB

JLB — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:35:40 +0000

Good luck with your submissions and agent search! I also have a folder where I keep all my post “starts” – they often end up like yours: a title or a few keywords, and a smattering of thoughts to be joined with prose at a later date (that is, if I find them again).

By: LK

LK — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:18:29 +0000

I too wish you much luck w/ an agent. I think it is definitely one of those “you’ll know it when you see it” type of relationships…Wishing you the best, LK

By: Smithereens

Smithereens — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:43:01 +0000

Good luck for the agents! Writing a satisfying query letter is already a great step forward.
Your 64 drafts remind of the dozen greatest-ever first paragraphs of short stories that, hem, remain to be written.
As for Versailles, you’re absolutely right. Most lavish rooms inside are empty anyway — or rather, overcrowded with tourists and their cameras. Just don’t miss the vegetable garden, that is France’s finest, with a lot of ancient and otherwise lost varieties!

By: openpalm

openpalm — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:31:21 +0000

ruler, yes. pencil yes. But i’d prefer the kind of pen that has something that floats up and down behind plastic as you tip it…presumably NOT the guillotine, although as soon as i write NOT, the 10-year-old in me thinks that might be very cool. Perhaps a swan on the lake?

…ps, don’t give up on the question you asked me…it’s in the works.

By: writinggb

writinggb — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:08:48 +0000

Hmmm. Never thought to use that function on the dashboard in that way. But I often get good ideas (??) and let them slip away because I do not write them down ANYWHERE! On a recent trip to Peru, I took to carrying around a tiny notebook and scratching things inside it that I wanted to write about later. I may keep that habit. Then again, I seem to be on the computer more these days….

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:07:19 +0000

When you say it is cold and rainy, how cold is it then? I mean I live here in northern Europe, and I am guessing it is a lot colder here. Certainly no trees are blossoming just yet, will be another few months I think. And I long for it to happen;-).
Good luck with your hunt, hope you will succed.

By: (un)relaxeddad

(un)relaxeddad — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:34:56 +0000

Well, I hope the inevitable (because a writer should always be misunderstood by someone), character-forming rejections are small in number, encouraging in tone and set the stage for the one golden glowing sun of a letter that really counts!

One piece of advice (still waiting for the golden glowing sun myself) I was given which I’ve never acted on is to really target the agents you want, ring up and pitch them. And pitch them hard! Never had the nerve to do it myself, mind…

By: bkclubcare

bkclubcare — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:40:51 +0000

Good luck to you! Sixty four unposted & unwritten posts? That is a lot.

By: charlotteotter

charlotteotter — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:05:03 +0000

Good luck with your hunt, Lily. I hope to be doing the same later this year, so thank you, thank you, thank you for that fabulous resource.

By: litlove

litlove — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:28:58 +0000

Good luck with your agent search! I’ll bet you’ll have them hammering on the doors soon and forming a disorderly queue!

When I was little and decided I wanted to be a writer I kept a book of the titles of books I would write. I ended up with over 2,000 titles of stories I never wrote a word of.

By: ombudsben

ombudsben — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 01:56:35 +0000

I’ve had the very same experience looking at my dashboard, bloglily! ‘What the heck is that??’

I re-read a couple of them (though I didn’t have anything near your 64) and left them, like money in the bank.

Good luck, too, with your agent search!

By: bloglily

bloglily — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:39:20 +0000

What a nice woman you are Stefanie. As for Versailles, I believe the advice to skip the chateau and go for the cafe has wide general application to many of the world’s attractions.

By: Stefanie

Stefanie — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:35:02 +0000

If I ever make it to Versailles I will remember your advice Good luck with the agent query letters. I wouldn’t be surprised if they all responded back to you with offers of representation!