I'm Waiting

It's four years old, but in the New Yorker Magazine you can read an interesting article entitled 'A Book In You', about literary agent Kathy Lee and her daily touring of blogs in order to find clients. It is an interesting article to say the least.

The responses she has received are very strange. According to the NYM she wasn't finding novelists, or even writers interested in writing more than a daily online journal.

Four years later there are more writers than ever writing blogs, writers that are serious novelists, passionate about their craft. I wonder if Ms. Lee is still trolling for writers via blogs. Writers, like me, are certainly looking for agents who will believe in them.

The purpose of my blog is three-fold. First, it is an outlet for self-expression. Secondly, to inspire writers. Thirdly, to possibly, hopefully, catch the attention of a good literary agent. I have a finished historical novel set in Georgian England and Virginia complete at 105,000 words. I have three novels that were previously with a small press, no longer under contract, that I plan to revise and resubmit. I'm currently writing a historical set along the Potomac River and Derbyshire, England. Then there are other stories yet to be written.

I use visuals to inspire me. This painting reflects my heroine.

All my life I loved books. I can still remember the day I found a dusty box under the basement stairs that contained what remained of my grandfather's library. Hardcover novels such as Kidnapped were among novels by authors from the turn of the last century. Reading sparked my passion for writing. I longed for years to write, but I lacked the confidence.

Then my cousin Nora Roberts handed me a signed copy of one of her novels at a family reunion and talked to me about the joy of writing. She told me 'You can do it', and I embarked on this crazy journey that has been bitter-sweet.

For me the passion for writing is like being in love. My heart pounds and soars. Without the passion what is the point of writing? I don't have the same feelings for the business side of this thing. It's like trying to find the perfect spouse and meeting rejection time after time. It gets frustrating and depressing. It's also like having a bad tooth that has to be pulled. It has to be done, and I'm willing to do it in order to have relief.