The last few days have been pretty brutal. No let me rephrase that, the last month has been a nightmare. On Tuesday morning Mike’s grandmother passed away, and on Wednesday morning our friend Darren died. I know you’re thinking the same thing I’m thinking─ what in the heck is going on?
Yesterday afternoon I was talking to a co-worker of mine, and telling her about the reoccurrence of deaths in my life over the past few weeks and she said very pointedly, “Well just think, you only have one more to go.” I asked her what she meant and she said, “There were three deaths a couple of weeks ago, and now there are two this week. Things always happen in threes.” I literally got a chill, and my emotions teetered between dread and anger. How dare she imply that something else bad is going to happen? What gall, I thought. But within ten minutes of her leaving my desk, my cell phone rang, and it was my sister calling to tell me Wesley, a family friend, had passed away. I sat in my chair, mouth open, in utter disbelief. But almost instantaneously I felt…(I know this is going to sound really horrible, but until you’ve been in my shoes, don’t judge)…relieved. Wesley was my third, which meant Mike and I are free and clear for now. My thinking sounds a bit twisted, huh? Don’t worry, I’m calling my therapist this morning.
Anyway, by the time I got my sister’s phone call I was spent. I don’t think I would’ve been able to handle another bit of bad news. I sat at my desk trying to figure out what it all meant, if it meant anything at all. Why is all of this bad happening? Is it coincidental? I thought about how in my twenties I didn’t really experience death much at all, but now in my thirties I can’t seem to escape it. Then the reality set in that as I get older so do my parents, and everyone else, and I started to feel really, really sad.
But hold on, there is a happy ending to this entry…
I’m pretty sure I told you all that on Monday I sent out four more agent submissions for my manuscript. Well, the four I sent were email submissions so I’ve been checking my email periodically to see if I have any responses. As of today, I’ve received not a one! But when I sent out my first round of email submissions with my less-than-brilliant query letter back in June, I got back big fat NO’s pretty quickly, so I’m thinking it could be a good sign that I have yet to hear back. Anyhoo, yesterday around 4:20 pm, I decided to check my email before packing up for the day, and there was a message in my inbox. While it wasn’t from an agent saying send me your manuscript, it was good—really good—nonetheless.
The email was from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver. Let me give you a little backstory…
At the end of June I sent out nine agent submissions. Out of the nine, I got five back pretty quickly saying, NO! But in all honesty I wasn’t that surprised. I wasn’t super excited about my query letter, and for all nine of those submissions that’s all they required. They didn’t want a synopsis, sample chapter, anything. Just a query letter and mine wasn’t brilliant; I’m not even gonna lie. So I put everything on hold (and being the follow-the-schedule, meet-all-deadlines person that I am, it was tough) and decided I was going to reconstruct my query letter. I did research, lots of it. I drafted up a new letter, requested that my friends read it and give me feedback, started over again, requested that my friends read it again and give me feedback. Cried. Fretted. Bugged my editor, Bobbi, and my friend, Mike, repeatedly because I didn’t like this or I didn’t like that and needed their suggestions. And then I decided for some reason that I was going to email an author whose style I respected and liked to see if she’d be willing to read my query letter and give me feedback. So that’s exactly what I did.
I found Lauren’s email address on her website and I sent her a pleading email asking if she’d consider simply reading my query letter and telling me if it’s complete garbage. I sent the email in the middle of July and waited. But then all of this bad juju started happening, and with every day that I didn’t hear a response, I figured I wouldn’t. So this past Saturday I put nine more submissions together with my new and improved query letter, feeling confident that it was good this time. Four of the nine were email submissions I sent out on Monday, and the other five are mail submissions I’m going to hold off sending until I edit my letter. Okay, I’m rambling…
Anyway, so Tuesday I finally got a response from Lauren congratulating me on finishing my manuscript, and then saying that her summer is very hectic, but that I could send over my letter and she’d take a look. In the midst of my despair there was a ray of light. I sent Lauren my query letter right away but thinking that, “my summer is very hectic” translates to, don’t expect this anytime soon. To my pleasant surprise, I was wrong!
Here is Lauren’s response to me:
Hey Tisha--
It looks awesome! I can tell you're a great writer just from the letter. I've made some minor adjustments as track changes and am reattaching here; feel free to accept or disregard my edits.
Also, it's typical in queries to have at least a one-line about yourself...?
Lastly, MAKE SURE that you personalize the queries to each agent, and TRIPLE CHECK that you spell names correctly.
Good luck!! Hope this helps.
Best,
Lauren
“I can tell you’re a great writer just from your letter.” Did you read that part? Did you see how she said she can tell how great of a writer I am just by reading my new and improved query letter? Ha, ha. You should have seen the smile lining my face. If Lauren, a New York Times bestselling author, thinks it’s good, shouldn’t an agent? You bet your tooshy one will. I'm such a dork!
Before ending this entry I have to give credit where it’s due. So here’s a shout-out to my friend and editor Bobbi who helped me keep the letter to one page, telling me repeatedly that it’s a lot harder to write less than more. And she’s not lying. My friend Mike who spends countless hours talking me off the ledge, and offering up useful suggestions. And my friend Annie, who read the query letter, met me for lunch one Saturday to talk about the query letter, and then after reading the final version gave me a boost of encouragement by saying I nailed it. I’m thankful to each of you for not only your invaluable contributions but for your belief in me and my work.
So there you have it. I’m grateful for another day of life, I have some helpful suggestions from a New York Times bestselling author to improve my query letter, I haven’t gotten a call, text, or email that someone I know or love is injured or dead, and I have an optimistic feeling that before I know it, an agent will be requesting my manuscript. So in the words of Ice Cube, “Today is a good day.”
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