I guess agents really get cracking in September/October?
Just got a request from an agent's intern (?) for a full from a query/partial submission. I do love it when they ask for it via email instead of hard copy!
At the moment, I have four requested fulls out (well, five, but one of those doesn't count because I know it isn't going to work out even if s/he does like it) and two requested partials.
Just keeping y'all in the loop!
New email from The Rejecting Agent from yesterday:
SHE CALLED HIM ON THE PHONE FOR ME! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
There are other places where I can ask this question, but I'm just checking here first to see if anyone knows and can help me out quickly. I'm setting up a scenario where my character was pregnant. She had really brutal morning sickness for much of her first trimester. Then, she went in for a routine appointment and learned that the fetus had died. So, she had no bleeding or other symptoms of miscarriage and no suspicion whatsoever; she only learned about it because the doctor can't find a heartbeat during the exam.
What I'm trying to figure out is whether the morning sickness would have stopped because the fetus died? Or would everything continue on like normal until her body has gone through all the phases of becoming, um, unpregnant?
I need to know this because I need to know if she is still feeling poorly like she was all along, or if something should have changed.
Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer! (And if, for any reason, you prefer to answer this question privately, please send me a private message through lj or email me at mindirochelle -at- yahoo -dot- com
I just got a rejection on a full. This one is particularly hard because this agent has had it for SO LONG. Since April. She was upfront when she asked for it, saying it would be three to four months before she responded. It's been longer.
So, this agent has been a contender in my mind almost since I started querying. I had a lot of hope for her. I'm glad this rejection came today, though. My birthday is in three days and I would have hated to get it then.
The rejection:
Hi, Mindi-- Thank you so much for sending THE FAKE MCCOY for me to consider. I enjoyed that sample chapter I read early on, and appreciated being able to delve deeper into the story. Unfortunately, as I read on, I didn't find myself drawn in the way I need to be in order to pursue things further. It's clear you are a terrific writer and this is a strong, marketable concept--it just doesn't feel quite to my tastes. I'm just sorry that it took me so long to get you such a lame response--my reading pile has been out of control. I wonder if you've tried [agent] by any chance? I think it might be much more suited to him, and I'd be happy to refer you his way (and pave the way with an email to him) if you'd like. I would think that [agent] at [agency] might be interested in this, as well, and could provide a referral to her as an alternate, or in turn, as you like. Thank you again. I hope all is well with you! Best,
[Agent]
So, obviously this is a pretty cool rejection since it has potential to turn into something good. This is my first time having an agent offer to refer me to other agents. Yay! I always wondered what that would feel like. It's pretty great, I have to say. I can't take her up with the second name because another agent at that agency has a partial already, but I am happy to receive a referral for the first agent she mentioned!
Now, I need to stare at the walls for a few minutes to try to shake off the disappointment of this rejection. Don't mind me...
I've been wanting to write about this for a while. So, I shall.
I have had a lot of problems with nightmares and anxiety from seeing disturbing images in my life. I can't watch horror movies. At all. I even avoid a lot of suspense, just to make sure I don't see something I shouldn't. It's silly, but I don't think it's anything I'll ever get over.
Here's a list of things that have stuck with me in a not-good way:
1. Vampire movie from the 1980s. I don't know what this is called. (If anyone knows, please tell me! It included a scene of a boy in the hospital who heard a knock on the window. The scary vampire person motioned that he should open the window. In then next scene, a nurse walks in carrying a breakfast tray, screams, and drops it. The camera zooms to a dead person on the hospital bed. Later, there is a funeral (but maybe not for this boy). The cemetery worker guy was down in the hole with the casket, and got the strange desire to open it. When he did, the body inside sat up and bit him.) This movie was the start of my childhood nightmares. Every time I heard a tree branch tapping my window at night, I'd be terrified it was a vampire trying to get in.
2. Pet Cematary & The People Under the Stairs. I count these as one simply because I was at a slumber party at age 15 and these were the two movies we watched. Or, I should say, the other girls watched. I saw only a few certain scenes and spent the rest of the time with my head under my pillow, trying to drown out the sounds. (I couldn't go upstairs alone to escape it, you see. Because I knew someone would try to kill me. And eat me. But not necessarily in that order.)
3. The Sixth Sense & Disturbing Behavior. Again, these are together as one because I saw them within days of each other. I was 22 years old and thought I was old enough to be over the fear that had plagued me all my life. So, I watched these. And then spent over a year being afraid of the dark. I had to take a flashlight to go to the bathroom at night, otherwise I'd freak out and think there were dead people hanging by the neck in the hallway. I also was afraid of kids wearing letterman's jackets, particularly if they were in groups. If I was in my car and saw them on the street, I'd roll up the windows and lock the doors. (This is funny. It's okay to laugh at me. Really.)
4. Mysterious Skin. This movie Messed. Me. Up. I was 26 years old. No nightmares this time. But there are times (really inconvenient times) when certain images will come to my mind and make me queasy. There is a scene involving a shower and shampoo that makes me want to cry.
5. Requiem for a Dream. I read reviews. I knew not to watch this one. I knew it would Mess Me Up. But I was on a Jared Leto kick and I couldn't stop myself. I'm still regretting it. Oh, the unease it causes me! (It worked as a good cautionary tale, though. You will never see me getting addicted to heroin or speed. No way. Not after what happened to these characters!)
Bonus:
6. Barbed Hula. I'm not going to link to this. (And that will make you try to find it anyway, right? Don't!) This is a video I saw at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC earlier this year of a naked woman hula hooping with barbed wire. It's even more horrifying than it sounds.
