Thursday, August 19, 2004
Quick report on The Heir: Haven't read it since last Friday. It needs a rest from my now hyper-critical eyes. I know I've fixed the parts that needed fixing. And now on to many other things. Had a good time at the Lake Tahoe Romantic Encounter where I was told by several people (2 reviewers, 3 writers) that they keep hearing really good things about my books. Most often this is accompanied by sage nods. Sue Grimshaw did the same kind of nodding thing, which was preceded by "Your books did really well." Of course, that was only until they ran out and couldn't get any more. Well, maybe one day they can all say they knew me when.
So, Kate S. told me she raved to Chris about my writing. This was in the context of the possibility of writing a demon story for something he has in the pipleine, which I would love to do and will re-purpose and propose even if someone else gets to write it. But that would be really cool, and I happen to be the perfect person to write that story. Plus, I sent her the proposal for The Heir day before yesterday.
I heard from one of the last batch of agents. She said she'd be interested if I wrote The Heir with humor. Humor? What that means is she'd be interested if I wrote a completely different book. And, she actually urged me to read one of her client's books. (I know this particular book, the author is a fellow local chapter member and is getting great reviews.) But if that isn't one of the most insulting things I'v ever been told I don't know what is. I am not interested in writing like someone else. I write like me, and that "me" happens to be extremely distinctive. In fact [watch out, this is a rant!] I have been told often enough by readers and writers alike that perhaps I do not know how good I am. I know exactly how good I am. Only I am a neurotic perfectionist writer and I can't help but think maybe everything I write sucks. But The Heir doesn't suck. [end of rant] Also she said I should take out the "scene" that I know will make people uncomfortable and she may well be right about that, though personally, I think the genre is ripe for this book. Oddly enough, I've heard other writers have written similar scenes and they're all chickening out and changing them. However, I hope to be able to leave it in. Maybe not though.
I have more queries out and am now stressing about that, before they're even in the mail.
