Finding the Right Agent

I’ve spent the past few days researching agents for Dark Waters, a middle-grade novel that takes place in 1850. This isn’t the first book I’ve submitted to agents, and it won’t be the last, so why don’t I just use the same list as last time?

Several reasons. First, it is always good to expand the search, especially since I haven’t yet found an agent I click with and who clicks with me. Second, agents move from one agency to another, and a letter sent to their former employer ends up in the wastebasket. Third, even if they are at the same agencies as before, their wish lists can change over time, the submission guidelines may change, or a particular agent may close (or reopen) the submission process. Then there is the possibility of finding someone new. Independent agents who are just starting out rarely have the right connections, but new agents with established agencies can draw on existing relationships and expertise. And sometimes I come across someone I simply didn’t know about before.

So what do I look for when searching for an agent? I need to know which age groups and genres the agent is interested in and which ones the agent won’t consider. Some concrete descriptions of what he or she is looking for can be useful as well (e.g., character or plot driven, importance of humor). I also appreciate information I can use to judge the agent’s personality. That’s important because the agent-client relationship is just that, and if we can’t connect with each other, the relationship won’t work.

One thing I don’t like is the lack of creativity that many agents show when they describe the types of books they are looking for. It isn’t helpful for an agent to tell me that he or she is looking for strong voices; fresh, creative, imaginative, or inventive plots; well-crafted stories; or memorable characters. Those are givens. All agents want them whether they say it or not. And most writers think that’s what they are providing, even if they aren’t. If everything else is a good match, I may submit to that agent anyway, but if there is another decent choice within the agency, I’ll send my query to that person, instead.

When an agency has two or more agents who match my criteria, another question arises. Often, one is experienced and another is still building his or her book. So do I submit to the veteran agent or the hungry one? That’s a question I’ve never been able to answer, so I usually ignore it and pick the person who feels like the better fit.

No amount of research guarantees that I will find an agent. In fact, I’ve gone through this process several times before with no success. And sometimes no research is necessary. I have a friend who sold his first book after an agent approached him. But researching before submitting is the most effective route to a good author-agent relationship.

So I’ll keep it up as long as I need to.

Agent or Reader: Whose Opinion Counts Most?

After several rewrites of the opening scene of my Civil War manuscript, Learning to Surrender, I decided to begin with action: my protagonist and her family ran for shelter as Union shells fell around them. Then I paid for an agent critique of the first two pages, and she didn’t like the scene. She told me that action isn’t always the best place to start and she wanted to know more about the characters and the situation first. So I revised the opening paragraphs to do that and started the action a page and a half into the book.

Then I gave the manuscript to my middle-grade beta readers. My first question was, “Did the beginning of the story make you want to continue reading?” Six beta readers answered “yes.” However, it was clear from their comments that they were referring to the entire chapter (which included the action scene) and not just the first page and a half. But a fourth-grade beta reader answered the question with a “no,” stating that “It was boring and too random.”

Yes, I realize that we are talking about one agent and one reader, and everybody has different tastes. Still, what am I supposed to do? Do I listen to an agent who comes from the group of people who can get my book published or a fourth-grade reader from my target audience?

I’m going to try to find a middle ground where I begin with the action but weave in more information about my characters and the situation while the action is going on. And hopefully it will be a better opening than either of the two previous attempts. But the underlying question remains. Should I write for potential agents/publishers or for my readers? And I’m not alone. Most writers face the same dilemma.

I want to sell my books but not my soul. I need agents and publishers to accomplish the first, so I can’t ignore their criticisms and suggestions. But I won’t put my readers second, either.

It’s a quandary.

Travel Records

Regular readers of this blog know that Roland and I love to travel. We have already booked international trips for this year and next and are currently planning our vacation for the year after that (2021). We even think we know where we want to go in 2022.

Roland gave me a map for Christmas to track our joint travels. Actually, he was honest enough to put both of our names on it as recipients. It’s hard to see in this size, but the red pins are places we have already been, the blue flags are for our next trip (or actually the next two, since we have two booked), and the green pins mark just of few of the other places we would like to go.

Saturday we braved the snow and went to the Chicago Travel and Adventure Show. While there, we expanded our list of places we’d like to visit, although we haven’t put them on the map yet.

Unless I’m specifically traveling to research a book, I don’t write about the places I visit. Vacation travel is for fun and relaxation, although our definitions may be different than yours. My idea of fun is a trip that expands my mind, and my relaxation comes from walking and history rather than lying on a beach.

Even though our vacations don’t show up in books or articles, I do keep a record of them by taking pictures and describing the highlights in emails to family and friends. After all, everyone wants to remember the good times.

And travel is always a good time.

Resolutions versus Goals

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I won’t say I’ve never done it, but it isn’t my normal practice. Instead, I set monthly writing goals.

As I see it, New Year’s resolutions are either achieved or broken. A resolution to drink a quart of water every day is broken the first time you drink anything less. And a resolution to lose ten pounds during the year can lull you into thinking you have twelve months to achieve it, so you don’t have any reason to be motivated until the year is almost over.

Goals are both more flexible and more forgiving. They say, “here is what I want to get done” rather than “here is what I resolve to do.” If circumstances change or life interferes, goals can be extended, modified, or even eliminated. If you simply fail to meet them, you can try again next month.

I set monthly writing goals and post them on the upper left-hand side of the bulletin board over my desk. That way, they are always there to remind me what I want to get done during the month. I have longer-term goals, too, but breaking them down into monthly pieces makes the task less daunting. And if it is less daunting, I am more likely to accomplish it.

Do I always succeed? Of course not. Some months I meet every single goal, and other months I miss on one or two. But during the year I get more done by setting monthly goals than I would by relying on New Year’s resolutions.

Or I could do both, but then I’d be depressed on January 2^nd when I broke the first resolution.

So I’ll stick with my monthly goals.

Emmanuel

As I heard in a sermon on Christmas Eve, the book of Matthew begins and ends with the promise that God is with us. The promise comes first in Matthew 1:23:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

The promise is repeated in Jesus’ final words before his ascension, in the very last verse of the book (Matthew 28:20):

 “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I quoted these verses from the English Standard Version, which spells Emmanuel with an I rather than an E, but I prefer the spelling in the King James Version. That’s partly because of its association with another E word.

E also stands for ‘evergreen.” The evergreen trees that we use at Christmas remind us that Christians have everlasting life with Christ. Yes, He is with us.

My wish for you as we head into 2019 is that you may be aware of His presence throughout the coming year.

A Christmas Cross

Christmas is about Christ’s birth, but it is also about His death and resurrection, and we can’t separate those events. He came as a baby to share our humanity and die for our salvation. The cross in the picture hangs in my kitchen all year long to remind me of that.

As you can see, the cut-outs in the cross portray the nativity scene. The center of the crossbar shows Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus, who is lying in the manger. A star shines above and angels herald the birth on each side. In my opinion, the scenes below the crossbar are backwards since the first visitors (the shepherds and sheep) are placed at the bottom while the later-arriving wise men are above them.

More importantly, this cross is incomplete. Neither Jesus’ birth nor His death would have meant anything without His resurrection. But the Christmas cross is still a good reminder about the all-important connection between Christmas and Holy Week.

The true meaning of Christmas is Easter, so remember that as you celebrate tomorrow.

A Season for Creches

Christmas is family and presents and parties and . . . Yes, those are big parts of the season for some of us, but all of them would be meaningless without Christ. The Christmas celebration is about Christ’s birth, which brought Him to earth to die for our salvation. So the best Christmas decorations are the manger scenes that remind us of the reason for the season.

Today’s blog post highlights some of my favorite creches from recent years, beginning with the one at the top of the page. This is the creche that has adorned the fellowship area in my church for decades. The photo is from 2008, but it could have been taken in 2018.

I also love this creche that I photographed in the sanctuary of the Church of Ste. Genevieve at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri in 2013.

Inside a church is a logical place to find creches, but they create a better witness when they are outside where they can be seen by people who might not walk through the doors. This next creche sits in front of Trinity Lutheran Church in Millstadt, Illinois (my daughter and son-in-law’s church).

Some outdoor displays are more elaborate than others. In 2010, Caroline and Pete took us to see the Way of Lights at Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, Illinois. The grounds contain many Biblical pictures drawn in lights, and they are beautiful. The first one below is a traditional nativity scene, but I am even more impressed by the second, which shows the city of Bethlehem.

Then there are the more personal creches, by which I mean the ones Roland and I own or have owned. The first photo shows the nativity scene that sat outside our house before we moved to the condo. Caroline and Pete have it now, and it is still in use. The second shows one I crocheted many years ago and have put out every year since.

Everyone should have at least one creche in their house at Christmas time to remind them of the reason for the season.

I’d feel lost without mine.