SUBMISSION SUNDAY

Hello.

Sometimes I wish there was something else I would rather be doing than writing. The agent who had requested the full manuscript of MAPS has rejected it with a very polite one liner. Right now I'm staring a different kind of rejection letter which was sent to me over two years ago by Pan MacMillan, a letter worthy of being up on my wall, the letter that keeps me going. It says here my writing is good, above-average, that they were intrigued by my unique idea, and how the three people who'd read my sample loved the protagonist's realistic outlook on life. And then this line:

"We do however want to point out that your writing and your manuscript as a whole was one of the very few which made us sit up and take note, and we definitely think that there might be something special here with another look at the drawing board."

If it wasn't for this letter written by representatives of one of the biggest publishing houses in the world, I would have quit a long time ago. Writing is a labour of love and commitment that beats all other creative endeavors. But I can't quit when I'm closer now than I've ever been, even it means it might take two more years.

So, while my baby is visiting her gran today, I've been reworking the query letter and synopsis and scoured Agent Hunter for exactly seven agents whom I would like to submit to. As I was reading my revised query letter, feeling pretty chuffed with how far I've come, I couldn't shake the feeling that something else was amiss. After three cups of coffee, a stiffened neck and strained brow, I've come to the realisation that it's the title that bothers me. After years of moulding and sculpting this particular project I've come to the conclusion that the title MAPS, isn't a true representation of the work anymore. I know exactly what the genre is and who the woman is that I am writing for and if I was her, standing in Woodsworth Books trying to figure out which book to buy, I'm not going to buy a book called MAPS. Even though it holds a special meaning to me, the reader isn't not going to get the same from reading the work as it is now. Over the years it has evolved into something less tame and more wild and thus it only makes sense to me that I call it WILDLINGS. Now, it's not to say that this will be a title the publisher loves but it might just be the thing needed to catch the eye of that one agent.

It's 3pm already and I almost cannot believe that it took me four hours to put together a query for one agent only and an additional hour to craft this here blog post. Literary agent Jenny from England, I sincerely hope you read my submission and that you like it too.

Time to go fetch the kid. Till next time.

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