Friday, November 05, 2010

When life gives you lemons . . . well I haven't quite gotten to the lemonade part yet

My year-long contract with my agent ends November 20, and I had some concerns about the working relationship, so I wrote to him. Got back an e-mail today releasing me from our contract Seems he's exhausted places to send my manuscript--which means eleven publishers. I am trying hard to view this as an opportunity and not a defeat. He sent to the big publishers in NY, but I think more and more authors are turning to small publishers and e-book publishing, and I intend to explore that. Once a manuscript has been shopped, as this one has, it's virtually impossible to get another agent. Also this agent kept talking about getting my 1990s historical fiction on Kindle and Smashwords but nothing happened, so I'll undertake that myself. As many of you know, I put my short story collection on those two e-book platforms, but I well recognize it wasn't a professional job, and I'm going to do better next time. Trouble is, I don't have Word files of these older books. A new challenge, but I'm determined to meet it. I've started making some inquiries today So, it's a bump in the road but maybe as Betty said to me this morning, "When one door closes, another opens." I'm certainly not giving up, not in a week when I've had a great honor and been a guest blogger twice. I may get the big head. But the agent rejection should keep it in check.
Other than that, I had a pleasasnt day--Betty and I went to the church bazaar, which recalls a lot of good childhood memories. I did some Christmas shopping. Then we went to the Barnes & Noble that now is staying, and I did more Christmas shopping--plus renewed my membership, since the local store isn't going to close. And finally we ate at a favorite place--the Swiss Pastry Shop. Yumm. . . bratwurst, really mustardy potato salad, and hot kraut. So good. I denied myself the Black Forest Cake, much as I wanted it. Yesterday at the doctor's office, I did not acquit myself well on the scales.
Life is always interesting--Jordan just called wanting to know how to spell "La Cucaracha!"  Don't ask me why, but I did manage to throw in that it means "The Cockroach."

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