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.
