We Have Liftoff--Hopefully
February 24, 2008
My agent let me know this weekend that my latest novel has been sent out to four major houses. This novel was done back in December and it's been lying fallow while we waited for some film producers to decide not to option it. This is all very complicated and for me, perhaps, unprofessionally frustrating.
I definitely let it get to me. Now, if I weren't feeling fairly mellow today, I'd argue as I have for several months, I have had very good reason to be frustrated about this.
My agent and, for want of a better term, my film agent (who is actually a producer, but this gets exceedingly complicated fast, so I don't even want to attempt to explain it), have read this novel and love it. Apparently several other producers have read it and loved it. Apparently, they haven't loved it enough to option it, although, like many things in books and film these days, one person's opinion isn't enough, they all have to get together and convince each other NOT to do something, and if one of them succeeds, then, well, nothing happens.
That thought strikes me as being significant, but I don't think I'll digress on this kind of groupthink except to say, not for the first time, that I am SO thankful I'm a self-employed sole contractor.
My friend Joe Moore blogged last week about sending in their manuscript for The 731 Legacy (they being his co-writer, Lynn Sholes, and their books are fine indeed, why aren't you buying them?) and how it was like sending your child off to college. Well, my kids are 9 (almost 10) and 14, so I've got a few years to go for that, but in the blog comments I said what I felt when a manuscript goes out was "hopeful."
And when a manuscript sits around doing nothing, I get "frustrated." I'm all for movement here, I guess.
Anyway, HOT MONEY is on the road and I have some hopes the title will be apocryphal.
Cheers,
Mark Terry
posted by Mark Terry at 2:56 PM
8 Comments:
Best wishes - keep us posted when it *lands*.
Yay! I'll keep my fingers crossed that it is a lucky title for you, that's for sure!
I remember when I first started writing, I literally could not write a single word while I waited to hear whether they'd accept it or not. It's a good thing I started small, LOL, because get out the violins ... I had to sometimes wait a WHOLE WEEK.
I woulda never made it in the real world when I first started out, LOL.
Good luck!!!!!!
E
Hey Mark,
Good luck with HOT MONEY and thanks for the plug.
Joe
Good luck. Seems to me that if people keep liking your work, eventually something good is going to happen. After all, good things often happen even when books are sent out and, for a long time, nobody gives any evidence of liking them.Then bang someone buys them! So getting lots of positive feedback that isn't quite positive enough should make you optimistic.
Eric,
I agree. I haven't figured out what takes an editor or agent or producer from "I love it!" to "I'll buy it!"
I haven't figured out what takes the reader from picking it up to taking it to the cash register, either.
Sending positive vibes out to all those who look at the book.
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