Friday, January 7, 2011

Friday's at the Piedmont Grille

On Today's Menu -- Tuna Melts, "Sick" Soup, and Bread Pudding. (Hi Liza)

I just wanted to say Thanks to everyone who commented on my "I Hate Sex" Post. It was a great discussion and I loved hearing everyone's views on the subject. And PLEASE, I never intended to insult anyone and their writing. I know several ladies I follow on blogs who write erotic romance and are published and do a damn fine job of it. More power to you. For my post I was strictly referring to the Regency romance genre and how they just plop (Hi Michelle) sex in with no reason for it whatsoever. Okay, enough about that.

I thought you might like to know that Lydia and Joe Sharp over at The Sharp Angle are holding a crit contest where EVERYONE will get a critique of their first 500 words. So go here now and sign up. I believe this closes down Jan 15. I think. So hurry over because I'm not sure.

I believe 2011 will become THE YEAR OF THE QUERY. So far, I've counted eight people who are getting ready to query this year. Including myself. There are also three of us who started the process right before the holidays (Yeah, what were we thinking, there's nothing worse than waiting on queries over Christmas.) So to all of you, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. If you need any help with your queries, don't hesitate to ask. I'm always up for a good query. (And not to toot my own horn or anything but I think I'm pretty good at them. My own have garnered partials and fulls and at least partials from other people whom I've helped if you need references. piedmontwriter at gmail dot com)

I received another request from an agent for REMEMBERING YOU. She wants an exclusive. Unfortunately I couldn't give it to her when she wants it, (which is now) because I still have 10 queries out with other agents. However, I did tell her when the other 10 come back in, I will grant it if nothing else develops.

I've heard horror stories about exclusives before, and I always said I wouldn't give them, but this agent was so nice about it (we had several emails) I couldn't refuse. Besides she's one of my top 10 picks so... have to.

I'm also taking a small hiatus -- not sure when that will happen, probably the week after next. I have to seriously buckle down and get my act together. Ellis and Violet are building a nice little love story, which is great, but also Penny and William are clamoring for me to fix them. (I finally had the revelation I needed to make this ms. work.) And if I can get both these books finished by the time I'm done querying REMEMBERING YOU, who knows, I may come away with a two-book deal. Wouldn't that be nice?

Any-hoo, I hope you all have a great weekend. I'll see you on Monday.

27 comments:

Linda G. said...

Congrats on the request! Don't worry that you couldn't give her an exclusive. It might just mean she'll read it faster now, to get the jump on the other agents. ;)

Christi Goddard said...

My advice? Don't wait too long on the other 10 requests. Some agents take months to get back to you, or not at all. Agents who ask for exclusives are faster at reading than those who don't. Accept the exclusive and ask for a reasonable timeframe, honestly. If one of the other agents asks for pages, you can advise that so-and-so has an exclusive and you can send them the pages when her exclusive timeframe has passed.

Liza said...

This is such an upbeat post...all this writing, all this optimism...I love it. Oh, and what kind of bread pudding are you making?

Anne Gallagher said...

Linda -- Thanks. And now the waiting begins.

Christi -- I told her by the end of January. That should give all the others time to get their inboxes straightened out. I should think. The end of Jan will be 3 months.

Liza -- Thanks. Just the regular kind with raisins and cinnamon. I'm not into those fancy kinds you mentioned on your blog.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

One of your top picks definitely deserves consideration! Good luck.

Christine Danek said...

Good Luck! If I get a query done (hopefully this year), I may be giving you a shout.
Have a great weekend!

Anne Gallagher said...

Alex -- Yeah, I set up my querying differently this time around. Some day I may post about it.

Christine -- You are always welcome to send anything to me. Have a great weekend too!!! Think warm thoughts.

Tracy said...

Yes, what crazy people would consider query before the holidays? Surely, no one would get the silly notion in her head that she could send out one query a day, every day for the entire month of November. *sigh*

Good luck on the querying! The 17th is when I'm kicking the gears back into action. *fingers crossed*

Tara said...

Congrats on the request!

Sarah Ahiers said...

i am totally going to hit you up with your offer to help with my query in a month or so. I'm good at helping other people with their queries but have a hard time stepping back enough for mine

Bossy Betty said...

Love all the action here at the Piedmont Grill! Pass the pie, please.

Anne Gallagher said...

Tracy -- Gee, I don't know of ANYONE who would want to send out a query a day in November, do you? LOL. xoxoxo

Tara -- Thanks.

Sarah -- Anything you need. And that's the hardest part isn't it, stepping back.

Betty -- I know, it's non-stop craziness! Here's 2 pieces, 1 for you, one for HOB.

Natascha said...

You are great at queries. I appreciated your help! I'm waiting on BETAs right now and will be querying in February. My goal this year: give querying all I've got for this MS.

Anne R. Allen said...

Miss Snark said exclusives stink, but some of the best agents still request them. Good luck with this. You deserve it.

Melissa Gill said...

Congrats on your request for a full. Sounds like you're on the right track. You're probably right to consider the exclusive for one of your top agents, especially if you've established something of a rapport with her and you put a reasonable time limit on it. Good luck!

Bish Denham said...

Ooooo, requests from agents? Congratulations Anne!

Susan Fields said...

Sounds like you've got some exciting stuff going on right now. Congrats and good luck!

DL Hammons said...

Ohhhh...I love Tuna Melts!! :)

I'm slowly but surely catching up on my blog reading. That's great news about the agent request. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

And yes, I'm one of those who will be querying in 2011.

Anonymous said...

Exciting to hear about all those beginning the query quest. And so cool about your new story. Yes, I 2 book deal or even three would be fab! Congrats on shooting that high!

Priya Shankar said...

Yay! I just happened to stumble on your blog and I'm really happy I did. I would say that I'm a crazy hippie Californian too hahaha. :) Good luck with all of your querying. I am not writing a novel, but in the process of publishing my work and short stories from India, and it's HARD! I don't know the novel process, but can sympathize and still say GOOD LUCK!

Karen Baldwin said...

Wow, you really do have your act together. Congrats on the request. You're query is obviously on target. Oh, and thanks for the heads up to the contest at the Sharp Angle

The Words Crafter said...

Good luck with all the queries. That's still pretty far off for me, whew! Sounds like the exclusive lady might be really serious....

I just read your sex post. Loved it!!!!!

Hannah said...

Good luck! Sounds very promising!

notesfromnadir said...

Nothing wrong w/ querying before the holidays as you never know what might happen. But I'm happy to see that you've got a lot to keep you busy in the querying and writing departments!

WritingNut said...

Ooh, congrats on the request! I hope to start querying this year too :)

jdsanc said...

Congratulations! That is totally awesome! And would that be nice? No. I'm thinking that would be so far beyond nice that it would be mind-blowingly awesome! Best of luck to you.

Michelle D. Argyle said...

No, no, no, you used plop! Haha. That made my day. THE YEAR OF THE QUERY sure sounds promising so far! I wish you the best. You write dang good queries. :)