Stay Close to Your Phone and Closer to Your Email

There are certain events that you come across; some are ordinary while others are extraordinary. This one takes the cake of unexpected events as to when a slight twist of fate enters your regular day to day routines. It is also another reason of reassuring appreciation within of how crazy and eclectic life can be at times.

Months ago while still living atop a foggy cliff side in San Francisco, I had finished a manuscript. Had it edited by a bunch of interns/students you name it, went through revisions. Re-edited. Re-revised. If you have ever completed a project of this nature you know the process is brutal and still amazingly gratifying.

Before the summer hit I started sending out queries to agencies all over the US and UK in all hopes that someone would be interested in picking the piece up and be willing to represent it. I got lucky with a couple of bites at first but they weren’t very solid offers. It has been months and with all of the moving and shaking that has taken place I completely forgot that the manuscript was completed let alone queried. It has been under lockdown collecting electronic dust.

The other day I was contacted by an agency based out of New York that informed me that they received my query and supporting pages. It’s currently being passed around and going to be taken under consideration. Could this really happen? After all of that [forgotten] time, can it be?

I want to put all of my hopes into saying yes but know from previous experiences that it is a dog eat dog world in the publishing industry and am staying calm until I get the final word..and a binding document. Which could take more months depending on how long the pitch is deliberated for.

The conversation made me think about how easily I put that manuscript on the backburner and forgot about it. How quickly I brushed it aside to do something different like move and start exploring a new city. So I spent an entire day wandering around, cleaning and deciding on what the next step was.

Regardless of the decision, I am moving forward with this project but keeping it to myself (and obviously here) for the time being to figure things out and keep track of certain ideas. It makes absolutely no sense to have it completed and not out of my computer. If the agency accepts the pitch then I will obviously move forward with their options but if they don’t I have started to look into other avenues of independent publishing.

To go about this is terrifying and exhilarating as I have never been down this road before but why not give it an attempt to see where it can go. There is nothing to lose. While it will mean more to me than anyone else who reads it, to have the opportunity for an outside reader to understand the emotions and feelings portrayed and how it could help or inspire them. How can I say no?

It’s simple. There is no NO for this answer. There is only try.

And so this is my mission for the coming weeks that is being thrown into the mix of missions already in place. To find a way to publish this manuscript as a possible alternative, to see if I can do this because I know deep down it can be done.

Talk about living in the moment!