Stuff, up to which I have been

[mer]

Public Domain Curator at Anthology Builder

Okay, Nancy Fulda announced this yesterday, so I will share it here now, too: I'm the new (and first) Public Domain Curator for Anthology Builder.

I've loved Anthology Builder since the moment I first heard of the concept, and have been happily shuttling my stories over there in exchange for the glee of building custom anthologies (and, of course, for my share of the 10%(ish) author royalties that get split amongst each anthology's authors).

I'll be selecting public domain works to include on the site, and building anthologies, and generally having a good old time over there. And if there's an older story you've been hoping to find on the site, do let me know--I suspect Nancy will build me a suggestion form some day, but until then, I still have email and whatnot.

Have I finally found a hobby?

On a more mundane plane, I got my birthday present from my husband last night, which is a pretty sweet little photo scanner that also does negative and slide scanning. So, all my pre-digital photographic adventures will be coming to a Flickr account near you... slowly, of course. I scanned three strips o' negative last night, and only uploaded three pictures of Poitiers. I'm... pondering color correction and things like that. From a less useful angle, I'm also pondering the interesting textures from film that seem missing from digital--am I crazy? Am I sane? Who knows. And finally, I'm pondering the awesomeness that will be the uploading of all my college photography efforts. Oh, my secret artsyfartsyness, you will soon be revealed to all.

The question after THAT, of course, is... what if I did make my own dark room and develop my own negatives again? I could (theoretically) avoid the expenses of paper and enlargers by skipping that and just developing film to scan, and thus live in some crazy hybrid film/digital world. I'm not sure what the value would be, but I do keep saying that I need a hobby. This would actually be less expensive than replacing my film SLRs with digital, and I could explore that texture stuff I've been pondering. And plus... Ansel Adams wrote a whole damn book about negatives. There's something there. ;)

Novel rewrite

I'm having some very circular thoughts. There is a tiny but important piece of story logic that is missing from my novel, and my agent has offered suggestions--good ones--to nudge me into the right direction, and she's certainly right that I need to address it, but my brain is just running full-tilt around the mulberry bush and never finding the damn weasel.

If this were my dayjob, I'd send Outlook invites to a meeting and make people brainstorm with me on large pieces of paper.

Are writers allowed to do that?

Actually, I sort of think I need to ask iuliamentis and vidensadastra to read the book and then get them very drunk and see what comes out of them. Unfortunately, they're not coming to Penguicon. Hrm. I may be jaunting off to Chicago sooner than I thought... Of course, the workshop is coming fast, and maybe I can pick the workshoppers' brains hard while I'm there.

The rest of the rewrite, I can handle easily. Most of it is very minor stuff that I have figured out how to solve with a sentence dropped in here, a paragraph there. There is one largeish (10,000 words) section that needs a thorough rewrite, pretty much ground up. But not bad, overall.

Agent hunt

I'm supposed to be done with agent hunting, right? And I technically am. Except that, while my first three queries yielded me an offer of representation--they also yielded two rejections. And hey, my response to my first rejection was to send out six more queries! And I've since gotten two rejections, and two requests for partials. And one of the partial requests came in the snail, and I have to snail back my regrets letter. And who knows what the last two responses will be? Anyway. I'm not done, in other words.

When I am fully, finally done--is there anyone out there agent-hunting (or about to be) who would find it useful for me to perform a post-mortem on the hunt? Or is that just... annoying?

Being Erica

Am I the only person watching this show? I really love it. I know it's already aired in Canada, and it's being aired on the semi-obscure Soap Network in the US, but for serious, it's a good show, it passes the Bechdel test all over the place, and to me, it reads like an excellent take down of chick lit. You have a quirky heroine who actually accepts that her choices have led her to where she is, and instead of Bridget Jonesing her way through life, tries to come to terms with her past, owns and apologizes for her mistakes, and otherwise recognizes that one's 30s are actually a pretty good time to grow the hell up. (Not that I don't love Bridget Jones; I'm just very weary of all that has come after it. Bigly weary.) Plus, there's a time travel component. Which is always going to sell me.

So. Yes? Am I the only one watching?

Comments

[iuliamentis.livejournal.com]

Actually, I sort of think I need to ask iuliamentis and vidensadastra to read the book and then get them very drunk and see what comes out of them.

*blushes modestly*

I vote yes for you coming to visit Chicago sooner rather than later. *votes early and often, as it is, y'know, Chicago*

[gwynnega]

I watch a lot of shows on Soapnet, and I tend to be annoyed by the non-soap shows they air (because hey, it's a niche cable channel, they should show soaps!), but I've really been enjoying Being Erica. Time travel! Jewishness! It's good stuff.

When I am fully, finally done--is there anyone out there agent-hunting (or about to be) who would find it useful for me to perform a post-mortem on the hunt?

I already have an agent, but I would still find that fascinating.

Film? Nah....

[mrgeddylee.livejournal.com]

I thought long and hard before I went with a digital SLR. Especially at that time, the perks of film were easy to spot - a $700 film SLR had much snazzier features for actually taking pictures than a $1500 digital, and of course a film negative has far more resolution. I went digital anyway, because I couldn't imagine going back to using film. I don't want to need to finish a roll before changing ISO settings. I do want to feel free to go take pictures of any thing I want, to mess around with exposure options all I want, and not have to worry about running out of film. I want to know when I take a shot whether it's decent, not get film developed and then discover that the flash blew out the highlights.

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

Merrie....I adore you. So take this with the loving intent behind it.

Three queries is not an agent hunt as most of us know it down in the trenches. That is not the norm or even close to average. I know one other person who got an agent as quickly as you did, and there was serious nepotism involved in that transaction. The rest of us struggled mightily or are still struggling.

Those of us who spent a couple of years and oh...100 queries or more before landing an agent will just look at you funny. Those who are still in the midst of the hunt after hundreds of queries and so many 'almost' close calls will not be amused. *g*

Hug your extreme good fortune to your breast and continue to squee. I'm not sure that a post-mortem on three queries would do much more than annoy people...or make them rub your head for luck.

Could go either way.

[vaughan-stanger.livejournal.com]

That's excellent news re. your AnthologyBuilder role. I reckon you're the perfect choice and I know you love the AB concept as much as I do. You'll doubtless be pleased to know that Nancy has asked me to contribute to AB's brainstorm activity. More chance for glee!

helpful vs. annoying

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

That's exactly why I asked. I'm well aware of my excruciatingly good luck.

However, I wanted that extremely detailed, nit-picky information from as many people as possible just a few months ago--as much of it as I could get--and someone holding back on it just because of good luck would have annoyed the shit out of me. In fact, the people who had an easier time of it are exactly the people who never seemed to post. Like, "I'm keeping mah sekrits!"

So, that's the other reason I asked.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

I am pleased, Vaughan! Congrats to you, too! I can't wait to see what storms your brain comes up with. :)

Re: Film? Nah....

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

Well, I wasn't thinking that my Crazy Plan would be my main photographic experience, but for all my artsy farting, it would work.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

And the Canadian-ness! I like to think we're in the same world as Canada, but I'm more and more convinced that it's really an alternate universe, a US that Might Have Been (or vice versa) that happened to get imported into our world and stuck on top of us. ;)

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

I've been itching to come, it's just... stupid LIFE keeps happening. I just spent twenty minutes looking at the calendar and failing to figure anything out.

Re: helpful vs. annoying

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

Keep in mind this is only my perspective. And I never saw people who score early as having secrets. I saw it as right desk, right day, right book for the right agent.

Except for the very few people I know who had their books handed to an agent--it was all a matter of querying at the right time.

Luck plays almost as much a part in this business as skill and talent. I bless my luck every single day I hit an agent that thought I was worth taking on right at the time she was actively hunting for new clients. That was pure luck, nothing more.

Which might be the one thing I learned in my whole query process. Some people have the luck to have their work handed to an agent. Some people luck onto the perfect agent with only a few queries. Some of us work our asses off on this for years before luck finds us.

I didn't learn any secrets to tell other people. If there is a secret that would make this easier? No one told me either.

Re: helpful vs. annoying

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

Nope, no secret. I said it was "like" secrets. If the people who have luck don't acknowledge the luck, and don't break down that what they did was exactly like what everyone is supposed to do, I think it does not help those who come after.

I suspect we believe the same things about the process in the end; but the difference is that my need to know how the process went for other people was so high that I was disappointed by the lack of specific info out there, and I assume that there must be at least one other person like me who just wants to know--anything, everything.

Anyway. I don't mean to be annoying you. I'll drop this.

Re: helpful vs. annoying

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I'd find it useful, if you have the time/energy.

Re: helpful vs. annoying

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

You're not annoying me. I'm now afraid that I totally offended you, which wasn't the intent.

I often felt and still feel that I'm too open about all the process I've gone through. I have blogged so much about agents and disappointments and the whole publishing journey right from the start. It is a journey and it is like running a gauntlet. It can be very punishing, even if you follow all the rules.

I have gotten a lot of disapproval over how open I've been as well. I talked about it anyway. That blog post I made about publisher's rejections? Totally against the unspoken rules. People don't have to get right in your face and say 'That was unprofessional' to get their point across. But I think it's exactly the kind of thing that should be shared so the next person doesn't get kicked in the face when it's their turn.

I also help anyone who asks with query letters, synopsis and lists of agents. It's not secrets, but it's the best I've got and more than I got from the majority of people who went ahead of me.

So you know, forget everything I said. I was wrong and I should know better. Post any damn thing you think is helpful and shouldn't be a secret. Talk about the things you wish you'd known ahead of time.

I'm going to go sit in the corner, finish critting this novel and ponder why I made that comment in the first place.

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're the only person watching, but the CBC budget cuts aren't good news.

I liked the lead actress in another series, but haven't seen this one at all. Canadians don't watch Cdn TV -- we're infamous for that.

Re: helpful vs. annoying

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I found everything you said and did about your search and everything that's happened since helpful, and I'm really sorry you felt pressure not to do any parts of it. Death to secrecy! And definitely death to unspoken rules.

PS Not offended. Worried I offended you.

[dancingwriter.livejournal.com]

I'm just getting back into the swing of reading LJ, so I'm probably very belated with this, but congratulations on landing an agent for your novel! (Additional congrats on the Anthology Builder gig!)

I gave up on agent hunting for a while--it seemed like the first volume of a trilogy was just too hard a sell. But I did send out a query again awhile ago and got back a request for the full MS. Still waiting to hear back.... Anyhow, I, for one, remain interested in all tales of agent hunting and finding.

[dendrophilous.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the Anthology Builder thing. That sounds neat.

Re: your rewrite - I've been meaning to ask if there's anything in particular you want us workshoppers to look at, given that you have comments from the agent already.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

I should probably email the workshop, eh? :)

Re: Film? Nah....

[mrgeddylee.livejournal.com]

I never really made the distinction between artsy photos and regular photos. Maybe I should try to. It might help.

[shawnalenore.livejournal.com]

Yes please! I would love to here about your agent adventures!

[dendrophilous.livejournal.com]

Only if you don't want the standard crit...

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

A post mortem on your agent hunt would be very interesting once all the dust has settled. Thanks for offering.