That Querying Journey, Part Two

In my last post, I talked about all (well, some) of the steps I’ve taken over the years to try to find my way to publication. Not included there is the doctoral dissertation (which is, technically, published), two non-fiction books published through a press housed on the university campus where I work, and a Psychology Today column which has had more than 355k views to date.

None of those are connected to my fiction projects, but they all taught me important things: discipline, editing, persistence, and how to take feedback, just to name a few.

But today I’m here to share the exciting conclusion to my querying journey.

As noted in the last post, I submitted my query and first five pages of my current manuscript to The Shit No One Tells You About Writing podcast and had the great fortune of being selected for feedback on their show. Which was in itself amazing!

And then I got an email: Carly Watters, one of the two agents on the show, would like to see the full manuscript when it’s ready.

Cue a mad revision sprint. I sent the manuscript off… and waited. And waited. And, honestly, didn’t wait that long. A few weeks, maybe a month. And then I got the email every author dreams of: “Do you have some time to chat? I just finished and would love to talk!”

The next morning, I met Carly for a zoom call where we discussed revisions, the process, and she officially offered me representation. And then I blacked out. Just kidding, but it was an absolute whirlwind of a day. Topped off by a dear friend having bubbly delivered to my door.

This doesn’t mean that now I get published. There is much work to do, and then Carly has to try to sell it, and… we’ll see. This industry is approximately 5% skill and 95% luck and timing. I’m not quitting my day job, let’s just say.

But I’m one major step closer to this dream, and I have the best agent and champion in my corner, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. If you want to know a bit about the odds, Carly recently wrote a substack about how over the course of her career, she’s rejected 200,000 submissions. Just think about that. It kind of blows my mind I made it through.

More to come on this crazy journey! If you’re still here, thanks for being part of the ride, so far. One thing I’ve learned in my life is none of us get anywhere worth going on our own.

My gratitude abounds.