Taking the Plunge

As part of identifying the steps I needed to take to further my writing, I’d added “writers’ conference” to the list. My writing group mentor read my manuscript. Check. I’d made changes based on her feedback. Check. My ongoing weekly critique group liked what they heard from me each week and also offered suggestions and advice. Check.

This was all very well and good, but I still felt like a duck in a small pond. I could keep paddling in this manner, revising my manuscript, talk big about “someday,” – or I could take the next big step. I love my small pond but I also decided to expose myself to the big world. Oh, I’ve been sending queries to agents for some time now, all without much success. Deep down I knew I hadn’t captured the heart of my story in a way that would capture the heart of a potential agent. Even so, I’d scheduled time to meet personally with an agent to pitch my novel.

Timing is everything.

I’d chosen my agent after reviewing the websites of the four literary agency representatives who would be at the conference. Not all four represented women’s fiction. That helped me narrow it down. I liked Jessica’s profile and now with hindsight, wish I’d also known she has a blog. We would have had even more to talk about after the first few minutes when she’d asked me to submit a query and partial manuscript, based on my pitch. But I’m getting ahead of my story.

The intensive workshop session I’d chosen was “Story-boarding,” a process designed to help create plot, character development and most importantly, the signature of the work. The signature is the one or two line summary of the novel. All 300 pages summed up in two lines. This can then become the pitch “hook” – that enticing tease designed to pique her interest. Wouldn’t you think I’d know the signature of the nearly 100,000 words I’d written? Kind of. But mostly I floundered, stuck in “well, it’s a story about a woman who … and she meets this guy who …” Right. Yawn. About as enticing as cold left-overs.

In addition to working on the story-board for my new work (about two sisters) I spent time on the “signature” for my current manuscript. After dinner and for the next hour I scratched out words, added new words, arrowed and circled – and with the help of a fellow writer and friend, hammered out my pitch. I practiced at lunch. Reluctantly. It was in my head but sounded unnatural coming from my mouth. But I kept practicing. I worked on eye-contact and sounding natural, as though I’d just had this clever, conversational thought about a project that’s consumed more than two years of my life.

A “Making an Agent Pitch” session was scheduled for the hour before my appointed time. I added the necessary facts (“It has to be complete, people! Tell me it’s complete!) My friend told the story later as, “ … and when I saw Sharon getting nervous – I was really nervous, because she’s unflappable.” Funny and only partially true. If something is very important, I’m not so unflappable. I want to make sure everything is perfect.

I reminded myself what nervous means. Nervous means I fear disapproval. Duh. Okay, forget disapproval. I believe in my work, the beauty and message of my idea, and if for some reason, Jessica didn’t get it, I still needed to be my biggest advocate.

Right.

“My completed novel, Talking to Strangers, is women’s fiction and 98,000 words. It’s a gritty love story about Rachel, a woman with a painful past, who teaches Charlie, a psychiatrist, to face his own demons.”

In addition to talking about Brooklyn, Time Square and a shared love for New York, I wish I would have known that Jessica makes her own ricotta cheese, drinks tea as well as coffee, likes Mark Bittman and Mario Batali, is doing a Grammar Girl book giveaway, and works on staying up-to-date with her hand-written correspondence … if she isn’t going to be my agent, I hope someday we can be friends. Or maybe I’ll be content knowing there’s someone out there like me, representing my point of view in the Big Apple.