On the Phone with Sam

The first thing Sam said was "Welcome to the Agency." Wow, did that feel good. We talked for over an hour about his notes on the book. His ideas were spot on. I can tell this will be a good collaboration. He's familiar with the Bay Area and Julia Morgan but hadn't heard of the Chapel of the Chimes. We discussed roughly a half dozen scenes and issues that needed more work. He'll read over the manuscript again and give me another set of more refined edits within the next two weeks. Wonderful!

What a difference a week makes. I was all set to spend the rest of the year adapting "Botticelli Girl" into a novel. Now I can hold off on that project and focus all my energy on the Milan family. Once the revisions are done, I'll continue outlining the second and third book.

Sam represents Deborah Harkness, who came out with "A Discovery of Witches" back in February. I asked him how her novel was able to reach No. 2 on the Times Bestseller List when she was a debut author. He said Deb was an engaging speaker, a popular blogger, and savvy with social media. Viking put together a press function for her and it was very well received. Advanced sales on Amazon are calculated the first week the book is out, and because it was a slow week and buzz for "Witches" was high, she hit the list and stayed there. It suggests the game begins well before the book launch. I have so much to do and we haven't even submitted to editors yet.

I play my league match with Tyrone Thursday night. I haven't played any racquetball in almost a week. I'm hitting the gym hard today.

An Agent! Sweet!

15 months and 195 queries later, I finally received an offer of representation yesterday from Sam Stoloff of the Frances Goldin Literary Agency in New York. Among the agency’s clients are Barbara Kingsolver and Dorothy Allison. I’m delighted, of course, since just a few weeks ago I was planning to begin work on a new young adult novel after recognizing that nearly all of my query options for Julia Milan had been played out. Sam was responsive from the beginning and his agency is very well respected. This is a huge relief for me. Back in December I had an agent request changes to the ending of the novel, but never heard from that agent again, even after a follow-up email two months after submitting my revisions. That was disheartening. At any rate, I'm excited about revising the manuscript and look forward to sending the manuscript out to editors.

Here are my query numbers. I sent out 195 queries total. 30 are still out. I received 9 full manuscript requests and 15 partial requests for a positive response rate of 13%. Agents who were interested in my manuscript tended to respond quickly, whereas those who took their time either eventually said no thanks or simply never responded. 89 agents sent rejection letters and 52 agents never responded to my query. I e-mailed 165 queries, snail mailed 24 queries, and used 6 online forms from agency websites. What a crazy, maddening step in the writing process. I'm so glad it's over.

The Weekend

The weekend: (Fri) Drove to Alice’s. She wasn’t feeling well. Sore throat. We ate chicken, vegetables and rice, then watched half of The Trotsky, a clever Canadian film about a 17-year-old revolutionary who believes he’s the reincarnation of Leon Trotsky. First half was brilliant, second half enjoyable. (Sat) We got up early and drove to Berkeley Bowl West, had brunch, shopped, went to Costco, then relaxed at my place, watching the Seattle, San Francisco and Hawaii episodes of “No Reservations.” I made guacamole for our get-together at Richard & Lisa’s in the afternoon. We hung out in their backyard for a good two hours, catching up, talking politics and life like we always do. Alice was still nursing her cold. She drank tea while we drank mojitos. At 7 we went to Biff and Rhonda’s for dinner. Jess and Jen were there. Rhonda served up a great dinner and we stayed until 11. (Sun) We relaxed, went to Starbuck’s in the a.m., ordered Yang Chow for lunch, watched TV while I did my taxes. At 4:15 we drove to Alice’s with Sandy. She made a wonderful seafood dish while I fixed her computer and brushed Sandy’s hair. After dinner we watched 60 Minutes and finished the last half of The Trotsky. Alice’s throat still bothered her. I left at 9:30 and fell asleep at 10:30.

April Showers

I’m been hitting my poker books again, watching high stakes poker when I can, and gearing up for another wave of poker playing now that we’re just a few months away from another WSOP summer. I won’t have many opportunities to compete in big tournaments this year, so I’ll have to choose my poker time carefully. One thing I’d like to work on is my emotions playing online. For the most part, I’m all right at accepting things as they are, yet sometimes that dark part of me undermines my ability to play well, and I lose control and good judgment as a result.

State Singles

I played in my first state singles tournament last weekend and almost took the Men’s A Singles title. I lost in the tiebreaker and took 2nd. Next year, the title is mine! I lost to Butch Fish, a very strong A-level player who made few mistakes and didn’t get tired, even though he’s four years older than I am.

This weekend Alice and I will be in Seattle to visit Steve, Amanda and Lindsay. Ron & Jeni are hosting and Neal & Karin, Kathryn & Tom and Susan & Jay will be there. Should be fun!

I’ve gotten lots of sleep this week. Need it.

I’m hoping to play some poker in April. I’d love to take a shot at playing in the WSOP this summer.

Another Friday Comes and Goes

It's been two weeks since submitting a revised ending to the agent who requested changes to the last chapter of Julia Milan (more Audrey, more explanation of Ben as shooter, and more resolution). In the meantime, I have four full manuscripts and five partial manuscripts still outstanding. I've sent 130 queries total, but haven't sent any new ones since mid-November. I have about 80 agents left to query and may start doing that next week as a way of keeping myself busy.

I've noticed on querytracker.net that once a writer receives an offer and gives word to other agents with partials and fulls, the manuscript is immediately read and counter offers are often made. It's really something. With no offer, nothing happens, but when an offer is made all hell breaks loose.

I bought a Kindle over the holidays and love it. What a sweet little device. I'm reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" right now. I've downloaded six Dickens novels, some Jack London, Chekov, and Mark Twain. I can see why ereaders are the future. The screens are clear and the device is small and light. I love carrying an entire library of classics in my coat pocket.

I've been reading a great biography of Richard Yates that came out in 2003 and it's fascinating. I wasn't aware just how autobiographical his stories were. It's amazing he was able to write anything considering how much he drank. Wow. He rivals Fitzgerald for crazy drunken debauchery.

I saw "The King's Speech" and loved it, saw "Black Swan" and loved it, saw "True Grit" and really loved it. I hope to see "Blue Valentine" this weekend.

Club One Fall Finals

I took the Club One Racquetball title again, beating Tyrone 15-9, 15-8 in a match that wasn’t as close as it could have been. T was off a bit and lacked some of the hunger that he usually brings to big games. He left his shots up and skipped several balls. He didn’t put shots away and let me off the hook throughout the match. I lob served about 80% of the time and T set me up many times. He made a nice run toward the end of the first game and the beginning of the second game, but aside from those two instances he was pretty much contained. There was a good size crowd and Alice, Richard, Lisa, Trey, Gerrad, Miles, Sophie, and Neil were there to cheer me on. That was the most satisfying part of the evening I think, seeing everyone there. Aaron K showed up and all the morning racquetballers were there. I worked hard for this repeat title and it feels good having that second plaque hanging inside my office cubicle.