Thursday is the day for my Digression penance… and it seems to me I need it about now. Favorite digressions? Cross dressing and nudity (obviously)
This may not surprise anybody, but sometimes I have a hard time refraining from things that are a bad idea. I don’t like things being out of my control, so I am inclined to press matters, even if I KNOW pressing is only going to force the solution I don’t want. Sometimes pressing serves me well—I’m sure I’ve gotten jobs this way. Sometimes, not so much. So today I am digressing, in an attempt to keep from pestering people.
Why?
I am playing the waiting game on queries. Enough out that I don’t want to send more just yet, too soon to give up, ominous silence…
My first round—pre-shortening, I sent out a total of six queries before receiving the excellent advice that CONFLUENCE was too long. I got back nice speedy form rejections in at least half the cases, and slower form rejections in the others. Only one didn’t respond.
Then there was the hiatus on querying while I shortened. August 11, I began sending a new batch—13 in all. One responded quickly that the agent wasn’t taking any new clients (wasn’t on her website, but hey, I’m sure it isn’t the first time this has ever happened, and at least it wasn’t personal). Tuesday I got a rejection from a boutique agency that I’d figured was a long-shot, but she amuses me, so I’d tried. Eleven are still out there, and so I wait. It’s only just over two weeks on the first half, and only eight days on the final two, but still, I have ants in my pants. A very good reason not to wear pants, I’d say.
So to distract myself, I am pondering this important question…
To snail, or not to snail.
In my first round, all were eQueries. It seemed so much more earth friendly, and I had a bunch of shopping to do before I could really think about the snail mail variety, so anyone who said snail mail only, I put on hold. This round, I did 6 eQueries and 7 snail mail, and you know what? Snail mail feels significantly more substantial. It feels official in some way pressing ‘send’ doesn’t.
I know I read differently on screen than hard copy—I give a hard copy more attention. I think from here on out, anyone who gives me a choice will get the snail (I know that will please Mari, though because she likes snails almost as much as slugs and giraffes, not because she is enamored of the US Postal System).