So Anyway...

In case you've missed my last two months musings, don't worry, you haven't. I've been remiss and am back on the wagon. I hope to stay on schedule with my blogging and with my search for the perfect literary agent (I know you're out there!).

And I'm also getting back to my manuscript - again. I continually re-work it and wonder if that's how it goes up until the moment it goes to the printer? Stay tuned.

When to Stop Tweaking your Manuscript

No one said it would be particularly easy to stop revising my manuscript. It seems that each time I pick it up I see something that could be said differently or better or more concisely.

A friend just sent me a great article on character development and a second one on "what a novel is." This may seem pretty basic and you may be thinking, "shouldn't you know that by now if you've just written one?" But these types of resources serve to reinforce and reassure me that I've taken my writing in the right direction and in some cases make me re-think my position in some areas.

I find them invaluable when sent from the right people. Thanks and maybe I'll end up revising or tweaking my manuscript. The point is to make it the best it can be and strengthening it will help me to get it there.

Inspiration is Everywhere!

Inspiration is everywhere and as with everything in life it's what keeps us motivated. I read a wonderful piece in the New York Times this weekend about an author who sells his books in the subways. His goal is to sell thirty-five copies a day of his book "Street Talk" and most days he reaches that number.

But even more important than that, his writing has a message... he tells the story of his redemption from drugs on the street, to prison to turning his life around, and how to make it happen. He says that one of the main benefits to selling his story on the subway is making new friends while touching their lives and influencing them in ways too numerous to name.

Dream Literary Agent... Where are You?

Working full time and trying to find my dream literary agent (DLA) is definitely a challenge. But one that I'm up to and feeling great about. I've had such positive support and so many people have reached out to me and offered ideas and contacts that I couldn't give up even if I wanted to.

So thank you to everyone who is holding me up and rooting me on. As I send out one more and then another agent query letter, you're the ones who are helping to motivate me. And when my novel finally gets published we'll all celebrate together!

My Uncle Jack

My Uncle Jack (the beautiful young boy on the left in the picture above taken on Folly Beach in the early 30's) inspired one of the characters in my yet-to-be-published novel. While he's not pivotal to the telling to the story, his character is very important to Lucy, the main character. (The real Lucy, my mom is front right.)

Jack Lewis was my mother's little brother and they loved each other fiercely. That word applied to their relationship long before it became trendy, and it truly described how they felt for one another. My mom died in 1990 at the very young age of 74, her baby brother died yesterday at almost 88. He had been ill for several years, in and out of the hospital for quite some time, and unfortunately buried his oldest child just three months ago.

But as I told his wife last night, we (his nieces and nephews) always thought of him as the "cool" one. I sent her a note on her facebook page (you see she's cool too)! He had been a fighter pilot in WWII and was very cute and had this droll sense of humor that even though we didn't always get it at first we knew to act like we did because then maybe he'd think we were cool, too.

Uncle Jack's passing marks the end of a generation and leaves it up to the twelve children and many grandchildren and now many, many great grandchildren the three Lewis siblings left to carry on. I know my mom would still be so proud of her baby brother.

Every Day's a New Day

It's true that the quest for my DLA (dream literary agent) isn't the easiest process, but knowing that there will be a successful resolution keeps me going. The other thing that keeps me going is the "one day at a time" approach that is so successful with a lot of the 12-step and rehab programs. Not that I'm an addict... although I do find my self thinking constantly about my novel and getting it published!

Finding my DLA one day at a time allows me to start each day with a positive, fresh perspective and most importantly to NOT get discouraged. Right now I'm working on writing a "long" synopsis for an agent who has expressed interest in reading my manuscript (I know!). But pulling together this 3 to 5 page document is proving to be very challenging. What to include, what to leave out. How to evoke just the right amount of emotion to ensure agents "feel" the love story in "Lowcountry Love Story."

Dream Literary Agent (DLA)

Day Six and counting... and what have I accomplished? Well I feel good that I've stayed on track and haven't taken my eyes off the prize. With my "real" job (real estate agent) taking quite a bit of my time at the moment (I have a time-consuming closing coming up), it hasn't been easy to do my book work consistently. But I am staying organized and therefore focused. That feels great!

What's been even better than that is how my family and friends have come through with contacts. My sister Lesesne (the character "Selina" is based on her in my novel) asked her supper club "who do you know" and it turns out that one of them is a published author of travel books! It goes to show that you just never know. And my good friend Linda who will have her second novel published by Random House (Random House!) in the spring of 2011 has put me in contact with her agent who actually may be interested in reading my manuscript.

So it's been a very good six days. Thanks to all my friends and supporters. It truly takes a village.

Another Opportunity!

After a great weekend spent doing some of the things I'm supposed to do to find my dream literary agent and procrastinating over many that I didn't do, today is Monday and I'm back to reality! I realize that this is a process and I will allow myself to take it one day at a time but I'm hoping that dream literary agent (DLA) will come to me sooner rather than later. After all, you can't blame a girl for hoping.

So today I'll organize the copious amount of information I found at the bookstore and online and I'll begin to get my queries together. My goal will be to send some letters out by mid week.

The highlight of my weekend was meeting a wonderful Charleston writer, Mary Alice Monroe in person at her book signing. And... she even recognized me because we're facebook friends and she had noticed my blog. I was thrilled! She's a wonderful lowcountry writer, turtle lady and environmentalist. And a percentage of the proceeds of her sales for her latest novel, "Last Light over Carolina" are going to a local non-profit.

If that doesn't inspire me to keep going, nothing will. Thanks Mary Alice!

Father's Day Inspiration

My father Jim Deerin is the inspiration for one of the main characters in my novel, so of course I've thought a lot about him today. But like daughters of deceased or absent fathers all over the world not many days go by that I don't think of him.

On August 19th he will have been gone for thirty years which is just about half of my life. This feels shocking for me on many levels; the first is the shear amount of time that has passed... my siblings and I have grown almost older than my father was when he died - a few of us are even retired like he was. Then my three children have grown into adults, moved on and out, and made lives (and babies) for themselves in that time. And lastly the world changes that I think about and know how much he would have loved and appreciated, especially the internet. He was a big researcher and loved to "keep in touch" so email and IM'ing would have definitely been his thing.

Jim Deerin, known as "Pop" to his kids and 13 grandkids would have turned 95-years-old this coming September 4th. Once I find my dream literary agent you'll all be able to read the wonderful love story that drove his life and made my life possible.

Saturday's Chore

Today isn't a day off from looking for my dream literary agent. If anything I'm even more inspired to work a little harder because I've got nothing but time.

There are a lot of tools available and I could sit at my laptop or go on a field trip to a book store and work in a comfy chair out of my comfort zone and all those oh-so-easy-to-distract me away from my main event other chores! How do I know about these things? Because I've done this before... I did the "find an agent" thing about three-and-a-half years ago, when obviously it didn't work out.

So I look for books by southern authors and peruse their "acknowledgments" to see if they "thank" their agents. I start with the obvious ones and then move on to those who are a little more obscure - maybe their agents are a bit more hungry and open to first timers like me.

I'll probably start at BN and then go to Blue Bicycle Books on King St. if you want to join me in my search today.

Still feeling great and positive that the perfect agent is out there looking for me too!

New Friends, Old Friends, Who Friends

I know my quest for the perfect literary agent will be a process. I'm ready for that. What is new for me is the kind of support I'm getting... Yesterday when I posted my first blog and I then posted it on my Facebook page it was shocking to see who I heard from. I thought "of course I'll hear from my children (and I did hear first from Rob, Meghan and then Katie) who have been there for me through this entire process. Then Tom chimed in - he was my first editor, slogging through a hard copy of my manuscript, proofreading it and encouraging me to keep going.

But then I started hearing from people who I haven't heard from in forever. My wonderful friend Lisa who now lives in Houston and read the manuscipt years ago in a really early iteration (it's evolved from then and she wouldn't even recognize many parts of it). My Aunt who's married to one of the (loosely based) characters and doesn't even know it! And then many people that I barely even know... you know how it is on Facebook, you end up "friending" people who are friends of friends or that you think you know but then you don't.

Well these wonderful people - now real friends have sent me "congratulation" and best wishes and have promised to put on their thinking caps just to see if they can help me out. I'm humbled by them and so thankful.

Thank you all for your good wishes and just for reading my thoughts.

Day First Looking for my Dream Literary Agent

Met with my fabulous editor Ellie Davis yesterday and she said two things about my novel that will stay with me FOREVER! "This book must be published" and "your writing is more complex than ___ ____ ____'_ ."

I'd love to say this author's name, shout it to the roof top, but that would be bragging and I'm not that kind of girl. Saying she's published at least five best-selling novels is a hint and she also lives in Charleston.

Anyway, Ellie also told me that writing the book is the easy part, getting it published is where the really hard work starts. I knew that, but hoped I'd be the exception. Ha! Here's what I've done so far...
- Written my Agent Query Letter
- Written a kick-ass Synopsis of my Novel
- Put together a "who do I know" list of 12 people I know (or sort of know) in the publishing industry" (WDYK list)
- Contacted 5 (only 5, really?) people on my WDYK list (heard back from 2 of them)
- Conducted research on an Agent I've heard is looking for "southern" authors
- Started writing a blog on the process of trying to get published

Please stay tuned!