It would be so awkward if I experienced immediate success, I thought yesterday. My blog would be unrealistic and difficult for other writers to relate to. So I have something to celebrate today – no awkward success has cursed me!
This morning, the agent I queried Thursday emailed No Thanks in the best possible way: You are a beautiful writer…I encourage you to pitch other agents…I am sure you will find someone…but I didn’t connect with the story in the way that I hoped I would.
A friend of mine has heard that last phrase several times, so perhaps it’s from the Manual of Excellent I-Messages for Nice Agents. Still, this agent responded so quickly and with such kindness I am not discouraged.
I just (!) have to find an agent who does connect, and passionately. An agent’s job is daunting. No publisher is already daydreaming how much money they’d make if only one of their editors were approached by an agent who has found an author with 71,000 beautiful words describing a half-blind woman’s life in Depression-era Oklahoma.
I remain (brashly?) confident. Go figure. Surely it’s too early for that line in Harry Chapin’s ballad, “Mr. Tanner”: full-time consideration of another endeavor might be in order. So now that I’ve vented here a bit (thank you, Reader), I’ll celebrate. I’ll print off my kind email and tape it on my office wall. Then I’ll curl up and connect with my Kindle and dear dog Jonah, whose adoration, as you can see in the photo above, is immediate, non-commercial, and whole-hearted.
What are your experiences with agents? Do you celebrate rejection often? What has worked for you? Are dogs or cats better with unconditional support?
2nd Chapter 
lovely sentiments in such a hopeful context!
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“Disappointment did not break his spirit. He only became more determined to succeed. When he eventually landed a publishing deal, the demand for his fiction was such, that it was translated into over 47 languages, as The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis…selling over 100 million copies”. I know you already know how many stories there are like this, but I said to myself, “What would Jonah say?”
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1. I’m okay with immediate success. Just sayin’.
2. I don’t write, don’t have agents, etc. – but I sympathize. Seems to me an agent’s work is “Do I think I can sell this?” not “Is it good writing?” Not the same thing – at all – to my mind.
3. Dogs. Without a question. Dogs.
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Huge mistake, huge!
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Marla, I suspect that this initial return has been harder on you than you let on here, so I am even more impressed by your expression of rejuvenated hope. And I want you to know that your story – of experiencing rejection and living to tell the tale – has been a gift to me as I continue on my own terribly jagged writing path. Thank you, thank you, thank you! And sending great positive prayers your way that another agent will feel the connection.
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