Success Stories

I love success stories because they are all so different.

A friend of a friend recently had her novel publish by major New York publisher. She wrote the book and then spent nine years trying to find an agent. Nine years of mailing out and no, no, no. Nine years of query letters and rejections. But she stayed with it. And then one day she found an agent in California who "was not taking new clients." The agent read this woman's novel anyway, decided to represent it, and turned around and sold the thing in 24 hours. Nine years of agents thought it wasn't worth representing. And then that.

On the other hand, another woman - whom I had taken a class with - is writing her first novel. It's not done, but she decided, for whatever reason, to approach an agent about it. The agent was so intrigued he wanted her to fly out and see him, which she did. I have never heard of this. I have never heard of this with finished novels, let alone unfinished novels. What's more, when I read parts of the novel in the class, I didn't think it was working. Perhaps I was wrong.

In the case of my wife, I was not wrong. She wrote a children’s chapter book (Violet Bing and The Grand House, Viking), and eventually got the attention of two publishers (with children’s books, you don't necessarily need agents). She then spent two years turning the book from a picture book to a chapter book and then saw it published in April. When I read the final draft, I said, "If this isn't good, then I don't know what good is." And so far, I have been right. Every review (Washington Post, Seattle P. I, B.C.C.B., among others), has been overwhelmingly positive. This is a great relief. A) It’s nice to have my wife's work being well received, and B) I'm glad to see my opinion isn't totally out of tune with the World at Large.

My brother, a creative partner of mine in my twenties, is on the verge of having the first- ever scripted sit-com produced for PBS. My little brother. And this without a college education. Without, in fact, ever receiving a grade higher than a "C" in anything other than Theater in high school. Now he has written, directed, produced, and starred in the pilot. When he first told me the idea for the show, I said, "Well, that's sounds like a great skit, but not a series." I was totally wrong. Never felt so good to be wrong.

And I will be starting a magazine called Author, featuring many cool author interviews, book reviews and writing type news. Also a nice letter from the editor, which will sound not unlike the sort of thing you are reading now.

Good news abounds! Rejection letters be hanged. The world is bountiful if you let it.