How to Find an Agent

Now, this is a hard proposition. With agents having rejection stats of 90%-99.9%, you have to catch their attention. This is harder to do than you might think. Like everything else, it depends on a number of factors.

1. Timing- Just because something is current today, will it be current two years from now...on average that's the amount of time it takes to publish a book. Understand that agents have their own time table.Do your homework. Make a list of possible agents who represent your work.

2. Complete you story. Let the agent have something finished he/she can hold in their hands to show a publisher. After that is his/her job...to sell your story. Perfect your story. Polish it until it shines like the sun. Even so the agent has probably seen a dozen just like it.

3. Write an outstanding query letter. One that will peak the interest of the agent to want him/her to see more. This in itself is a difficult proposition. The slush pile is HUGE even for solicited material.

4. Frequent workshops and conferences. Make personal contact with agents you target. Get their card, find something unique in your conversation with them to add to your query letter that will jog their memory. Most likely an agent will request a synposis with a query from everyone they meet because it's easier. Understand on average an agent will meet hundreds of authors at these events and may have several in a row before going back to their offices.

5. Don't give up. So what if fifteen agents rejected your work and you are tired of rejection letters. I'm the queen of rejections according to one of the writer's forums I frequent. To date I have a file of 263 rejection form letters in a file...yes, I keep them all. Of course this is for more than one work and I'm a published author! Take a look at the rejection. Yes, there are different types of rejections. It's probably because...

• They don't handle what you've written...look closer at who you are submitting to.
  
  
• They can't sell it...this is very bad. You may want to rewrite or rethink your approach.
  
  
• Poor writing...this you can fix.
  
  
• They are not taking on new clients...this is probably the best type of rejection.
  
  Good Luck!

Ideas & More Ideas

So many people ask me where I get my ideas from to write about. The answer is complicated and simple at the same time. It comes from your imagination, your life experiences, and your dreams.

If you do not have an imagination, give up writing fiction and stick to nonfiction. Writing fiction is all about imagination. If you can't tell a story, joke without botching the punch line, or don't have a rhythm...then writing fiction is going to be rough for you. But then, you would not have come here if you didn't want to be a better writer.

How would you describe pain, if you had never been in pain. The same is true for happiness, sadness, and all the emotions. Job one is experience life. By experiencing life, you grow as a person. You dream, you feel emotions, and that's what comes across on paper. If you are writing nonfiction a lot of this will not apply to you.

My ideas come from innocent and not so innocent sources. Growing up I lived in some pretty desperate countries. I've experienced bombing, shootings, and people otherwise trying to kill me. My father worked in intelligence, my mother was recruited by the pre-CIA. So for me it was only natural to write espionage stories...I lived bits and pieces of it my whole life.

I was out shopping with my grandchildren and they wanted candy. I started looking at the names of the candy...BOOM! A children's story with candy as characters. With names like mr. Goodbar, Whatchacallit, Baby Ruth, Reeses Pieces...who could resist?

Sometimes, you write a writing exercise and the character just won't shut up. They have a story to tell. They keep chatting away until you get tired of hearing their voices in your head...so you keep writing. I love when that happens. I guess you could call me lucky. I've lived a full life fulfilling my goals, dreams and desires in the name of experience. Even when Murphy's Law hits, it's grist for the writing mill. I never know when that experience will come in handy.

I mentioned dreams. Yes, those run of the mill dreams. Have you ever had a dream so twisted and vivid that it woke you up? What did you do? Did you grab your pen and pad, by the bed and jot it down? Or did you just roll over and go back to sleep? I always keep a pad by my bed. In several cases, the answer to dialog or scenes I struggled over while awake solved themselves in my dreams. Open you mind. Keep your eyes open and let the juices flow. And above all...Write On!