12 rejections, 1 silent maybe, 21 left

Oy. Wondering daily if I’m kidding myself that someone will publish my book. One rejection today said it had been a tough decision, and to send more of my future work. This makes me want to throw a tantrum.

4 rejections, 1 unofficially interested editor, 9 days until school starts

The problem with begging your agent to submit your manuscript BEFORE everyone goes on vacation for the whole month of August is that then you have to twiddle your thumbs (and snap at your children) for the whole month of August.

At least editors’ rejections are kinder than agents’ rejections: one said my book was “too quiet” for her list. One said it was “too literary.” One thought the political themes were compelling but the love story wasn’t believable (the exact opposite of what many agents told me). I can deal with comments like these.

My partner is sick to death of hearing about the PTO. Me, too. But I told him that if I hadn’t been obsessing over school communications this summer I would have found something else with which to distract myself. PTO is a much more benign anesthetic than, say, heroin.

Trying to distract myself

My literary agent submitted my manuscript OPEN UP YOUR MIND AND THINK LIKE ME to 35 publishers on Monday. One said she’s excited about the marketing possibilities for an 80′s setting, and several said they were going to start reading it now.

This seems like a good time to finish my PTO communications work and head to the cabin for three weeks. Ali says this stage could take up to six months. Thank god I have some fun consulting gigs lined up for this Fall.

Submitting manuscript in July

Yahoo! I got “final” revisions back to Ali and her assistant in time (self-imposed deadline) to send it around to publishers BEFORE the July/August publishing dead zone sets in. And I learned last week that “several” editors wanting to read the manuscript didn’t mean three: it means fifteen! Not a guarantee but definitely not a kick in the head either.

This is the email Ali sent yesterday after receiving my latest draft:

“Oooo…Can’t wait to read! Congratulations on meeting the “deadline” Caught up with Siobhan today. She loved, loved, loved it. She’s a stickler for logistics, but you got her. She cried. And the agenting motto is, “You cry, you buy!”

Never thought I’d be thrilled to make someone cry but there it is.

Now agonizing over a title that encompasses the politics, the love story, the Nebraska setting, and the parental relationships. Easy, right?Common Ground? The Messy Middle? Please advise…

So far, so good

I have a phone date with Ali next week. Editors at three major publishers have asked to read the full manuscript. AND Ali emailed that she likes my last revision. Whew!

Apparently the publishing industry shuts down in July and August. Ali says this means we should submit in June or September. September? Jon’s already keeping a close eye on me: “Don’t stand too close to any ovens. I don’t want you pulling a Sylvia Plath.”

Okay, I exaggerate, but the slow pace of this process is excruciating. Fingers crossed for a June submission. Whether a publishing company buys it or rejects it, I would at least know something by December.

Meanwhile, kids out of school, Mom’s adapting to her nearby condo, client work picking up, and critical mass (district, County, funding) is building around my plan to develop friendly and informative K-12 parent communications that correspond to our district’s sex ed curriculum. I’m way too busy to fret over my novel.

Right.

Pickling in own stomach acid

I’ve spent the last few months revising my manuscript, resubmitting it to my agent, and chewing my cuticles while she packages it (in the marketing sense) and shops it around to editors.

Just received this email from her at the end of the Book Expo America in NYC:

“. . the fair was an amazing success and your manuscript is in high demand! Apparently contemporary, reality-based literary fiction is making a comeback! I’m so excited to be going out with your work soon! “

Great, right?

Actually, I have no idea what this means.

Am trying hard not to stalk her, but I want to tap dance on Ali’s dinner table and ask, “Do editors like me, Me, ME or is it that non-vampire books are in high demand?”

I have a literary agent!

I signed a contract with Ali McDonald at The Rights Factory in January.  She’s based in Toronto, knows a bunch of stuff, is excited about BETWEEN ENEMIES (“I’m not a crier but I cried.”), and has one of those disarming Canadian accents.

Yay!

I couldn’t post my news until now: I was afraid I dreamed it.

Then I didn’t post anything because I’ve been busy being consumed by my own stomach acid. Ali’s edits are on their way. I’ve been edited before. It’s like having a delivery nurse tell you that your newborn is ugly.

Getting published is a long shot.

And they say that the real work doesn’t even begin until an editor gets her hands on it. I’m not sure I’ll have any stomach acid left at that stage but I hope I get to find out.

Two more friends have books out: Paul Dosh–fellow Minnesotan and distant relative–published “Demanding the Land: Urban Popular Movements in Peru and Ecuador, 1990–2005″ (Penn State Press) based on his field research as a Latin American political scientist. I suspect I’d be smarter if I read this.

William Gumede–also in London on sabbatical with his family in 2007-2008, journalist and author of a grown-up best seller on South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki–wrote his first children’s book called, “A Kite’s Flight.”  He must have written this one in those empty hours between critiquing the ANC and fighting off its latest libel lawsuit. Yeah, me too.

Freeze this moment

I can’t jinx it but I’m seeing encouraging developments on the agent front.

And my family leaves for Cape Town, South Africa on Saturday. We’re visiting dear friends for two weeks.

And my house is clean.

And my pants are loose.

Where’s a class reunion when you need it?

Still kicking

…and still writing. I’ve been fundraising for non-profits (although joining many of my friends in feeling the effects of the recession), updating my girls’ journals, and growing my list of editing clients. I’ll be curious to see if any local high school seniors (or their parents) take me up on my offer to edit (NOT write) their college application essays.

I’ve also devoted large chunks of time to spinning my wheels and catching up on my Seasonal Affective Disorder.  It feels great, therefore, to find myself climbing back on the query-writing horse. I’d planned on only 3 months of what turned out to be a 6-month hiatus.

Nine queries in the universe, one kid (foolishly) asking me to help with her challenge math, and two CSA butternut squash taunting me from the kitchen counter.

Owning it

I keep hearing from agents, “Great writing, outdated setting.”

I gambled on my theory that some of this perception of 1989 correlates with my (agent-world)  peers’ generational angst about hitting middle age.  To appreciate my setting is to own the fact that the Glee generation views our own teen years as an historical period. They don’t remember it: they read about it.

I think I’m on to something. Two agents have asked to see the full manuscript in the last ten days after receiving my new query in which I call a spade a spade:

“The Eighties are back, if recent films like “Adventureland” and “Hot Tub Time Machine” are any indication. With no trace of irony, teens are wearing skinny jeans, fat earrings and preppy shirts. The truth horrifies but here it is: these same young adults will totally perceive my novel set in 1989 as historical fiction. Mr./Ms. Agent, even if you, too, resent being “retro,” I hope you’ll consider Between Enemies—political fiction with a sense of humor—for possible representation.”

Otherwise, I’m buried in client work and have a weed-free, newly mulched perennial garden.

Thanks, friends, who continue to ask about the book and assure me that I’ll be published someday.