Monday, September 28, 2009

Agented!


I have champagne-worthy news! I have an agent. I am now officially represented by Steven Chudney, and I couldn’t be happier.

It’s been journey to this point; one I’m glad I took. I began writing this manuscript seven years ago. I was already a writer, but a business writer. I was also an avid reader. But when my boys began reading novels, something clicked inside me. I read the books they were reading, and fell in love with middle grade.

I joined SCBWI and found my wonderful critique group. I dug into the process of novel writing, taking classes, going to conferences, and reading, reading, reading.

In 2007, I sent my MG out into the world and got a bunch of “good” rejections—a decent share of partial and full requests, even a trip to an editorial meeting at a major publisher. But I couldn’t figure out what was missing. What it was that made agents and editors ultimately say no.

So I gave my manuscript a time out—some drawer time for a year or so—and continued working on a second novel.

When I finally took my MG out of the drawer (or out of its Word file, really), I could see flaws that had been invisible the year before. I revised, ran it through my critique group again (and bless ‘em, they never said—again????), revised again, and last July, after carefully researching agents, sent off some targeted queries.

Two months and one revision later, my drawer time paid off. I now wait while Steven takes another read. When he deems it ready, out to publishers it goes.

I have to say, this feels really good. But what will feel even better, is getting a phone call and hearing, “I sold it.”

Photo: Ian Britton

27 comments:

  1. CONGRATS!!!!!! That's such exciting news it deserves about a billion exclamation points. :-)

    So here you go:

    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    (note: number of exclamation points does not actually equal a billion ;-))

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  2. Judy, this is awesome! I'm so very happy for you! & have my fingers crossed for a quick sale! Julia from Verla's

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  3. Congratulations! Isn't it SO rewarding when you work for so long and you finally have something to show for it? Good luck with the book - I hope you'll have more good news to share soon!

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  4. Congratulations, Judy! So very, very happy for you!
    Nelsa

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  5. I was happy to see your news on the blueboards. I hope all that time your story spent fermenting translates to a fine wine that sells quickly.

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  6. So exciting! I saw your news on the blueboards, but had to come & say congrats here, too. CONGRATULATIONS! :D

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  7. That's wonderful!!! Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :)

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  8. Congratulations!!!!!

    Can't wait for the news that it's sold!

    Go, you!

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  9. Thank you all you fellow blueboarders! You are the best!

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  10. Congratulations, Judy! It's so encouraging to hear that after seven years your hard work and patience (and more hard work) have paid off. Good for you!! Here's to a very quick sale.

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  11. YAY!!! So happy for you. Such an exhausting business, but so exciting to read stories like this.

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  12. I'm SO happy for you and the best part for us in the group is sharing your joy with the special feeling we might have helped it all happen!

    I think one of the most important parts of the saga is that year in the drawer. Not too many of us would have had the patience to leave something alone for that long.

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  13. Mr. Chudney landed a great client! Can't wait to see what happens next... :-)

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  14. A HUGE congratulations! Enjoy the champagne.

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  15. Thanks, everyone!

    And Gale, you're right--leaving it alone for a year was key. I didn't actually mean to leave it for that long. I was just happily working on something else. But the distance really helped.

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  16. This is so great! Congrats and good luck on the next step.

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  17. Congratulations -- can't wait to hear the good news Steven's sold it!

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  18. Congrats! That is so awesome! Can't wait to read it!

    Guess what? My word verification is "ready." Ha!

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  19. Corey, that is so funny. And one of my main characters is Reddy!

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  20. Wonderful news! Congrats. I followed you over from blueboards to read your inspiring story. Thanks for sharing.

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  21. So excited to celebrate with you, J.A.! Steven Chudney is definitely a smart (and lucky) agent!

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  22. Congrats!!! Steven is awesome! Here's hoping for a quick sale!

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  23. Congratulations. My book is also represented by Steven, and he is great to work with. Good luck with the next step. It isn't fun, but it is necessary.

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  24. Congratulations! Wonderful news! Hope to hear about a sale soon!

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  25. Very, very cool! Steven represents some great books like A La Carte and Prom Kings... Yours will be there too now! Good luck with submissions!

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