one month in....

So yesterday I began the second push towards publishing and found the way cursed.

Last year's attempt left me feeling battered and yet hopeful. It was clear that my 155 thousand manuscript was not going to get any agent's attention, and so I was spurred on to re-draft the thing from beginning to end.

I killed words like mosquitos, and whole chapters fell away like the burnt bits from roasted marshmallows.

I finished this draft early feb, but have sat on it, wanting friends to read it first -- get feedback from my allies before I let it cross into enemy lines. But people are busy.

So yesterday I took the plunge and instead of mass sending my new query I took a tentative step towards one agency that I liked the look of, and an agent there whose tastes seamed to match my own.

But oh! the horror! After so long and so many drafted pitch lines and plot summaries, I sent a query with an old version of a characters name in the last paragraph.  Aside from looking unprofessional, the agent in question made a point of reminding hopeful authors to check for this very kind of foolishness, and here I was, stumbling at the gate. Sigh.

I can only hope this is overlooked, and that the follow up email I sent in a desperate attempt to undo the evil I had unwittingly unleashed will not be looked at as the rambling, fumbling, stuttering rant that it was.

Face-palm.

T.B 

--
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain