OK, here it is. I can say I have an agent.

The phone call went excellently. V is sending me her literary agent agreement. V has a short-list of pubs to send it to. V is very excited about it, loves it and will be phoning/emailing publishers next week, I guess (I have to get some stuff to her by end of this week). Melba is a bit sweaty and excited. Melba has toast sitting going cold in her toaster. Melba has coffee in her guts, making her twitchy. Melba has to go to lunch now with mother, and can say she has an agent. Melba is very, very happy. Melba promises she won't refer to herself in 3rd person any more.

More to hand when I have it/can say but the key word for now is ORANGE.

Thanks everyone for well wishes and encouragement. Special thanks to Mr E's testicles.

Might have some news soon

Fingerrrrs crossed. I received a very encouraging email t'other day. The agent says she hasn't finished reading yet but is loving, LOVING my revised ms. Also that she can see how much thought and work I've put into it, and she finished by saying 'well done you!' She said she'd be in touch as soon as she's finished reading it.

You'll be glad to know I didn't wee myself - that will come later, if at all - but I did do an undignified sort of arm-wave, face-scrunch victory chair dance.

Oh, for the even very small steps, they are to be celebrated. And I have to say thank you to Alex for being one of my readers; you read very closely and had terrific feedback. So, thanks!

Getting a little jittery here

Isn't this a beautiful picture? Looks like a painting but it's not. It's a photo (probably shopped) of a landscape in Namibia I think it was. I can't find the reference which makes me a bad blogger. Aha, here it is.


So my deadline is tomorrow. That's not the problem, revisions are done, I'm just reading through 'one last time' (fuck that makes me laugh).

And then I'll email it to the agent.

And then she'll say fantastic, it's ready to send to my shortlist of publishers OR you just need to change this and this.

And then I'll say wonderful OR sure, no problem. Doing it now.

And then I'll say can I tell people?

And she'll say sure, but you know until I hear back nothing's definite.

And I'll say of course, I understand that.

And then I will become a bit insomniacal.

And then I will draw on my amazing reserves of patience and resilience and stamina to be very still about it all.

And I will keep working on the next one; wrangling with the structure, the points-of-view, the tense, the narrators and the voice.

And then, in I don't know how long, she'll email me and say well, congratulations, there are two interested.*

And then I'll wee in my pants a little.

Wish me luck.




* this is the only part where I've let myself veer off into fantasy. Why not try a little creative visualisation?