QUERY THIS PAL!



TAKING AIM AT A BOOK DEAL



No more queries for this couch potato! Well, the couch is actually a chair in the man cave, seemingly chained to a desk and computer.



KATE FOLKERS, LITERARY AGENT



Something magical happened on Tuesday, November 16.  A long process of getting someone to believe in my 92 thousand word espionage thriller payed off.  I now have a literary agent!

Thank you Kate Folkers of the Martin Literary Management Agency.

Is it coincidence that a Field Of Dreams is on right now?

I realize this is just another phase of a continuing process, but it feels awfully damn good right now.  Of course, for all the hard work leading up to this moment, there remains plenty to accomplish.  Getting a book deal is no guarantee.  Over the past few months, I felt I was close to securing representation and I have all the rejection letters to prove it.  From the early stages of form written setbacks to letters of encouragement, some of which offered sound advice. 

Thanks to a connection with author Sara Paretsky, agent Dominick Abel gave me a phone call during the early stages of my search.  He offered sound criticism that I took to heart, leading me back to the dark, lonely days of rewrite, rewrite.  I'd come up for air to try again, only to realize I wasn't there yet.  The thought of giving up though, never crossed my mind.

Along the way I discovered the Guide To Literary Agents blog, a tremendous source of updated information.  I also stumbled across Thrillerfest, which I attended for the first time in July.  Talk about an invaluable learning experience!  I've interviewed Presidents, A-List actors and world class athletes but nothing was as terrifying as having to prepare for a pitch session before some the industry's best and brightest.  To help get me there, I owe a huge thanks to the kindness and advice of people like authors Shane Gericke and Lisa Gardner.  They were warm and inviting during a reception the night before as were a number of other authors.  JJ Cooper, my Down Under friend, thanks for the encouragement!  If you write thrillers and haven't yet sampled Thrillerfest, you really must give it a try.  Besides, it's in New York!

So why did Kate Folkers decide to offer me representation?  Why did I decide to sign with her?  From my end, it was a comfortable connection.  She got what my book was about.  She took the time to delve into it, offering both praise and criticism.  She was honest and had a plan.  I also was impressed with her multi-faceted background which I believe in the long run will pay off.

Since November 16, I've had plenty of time to come down from Mt. Small Achievement.  There's hopefully a book deal out there and I've got plenty of polishing up to do.  At least I'm not doing it alone anymore.

EXERCISE THE RIGHT TO CHANGE

I've found that working on a novel is like getting exercise.  Unless you're a world class athlete, you can always do more and should be concerned about shedding excess everyday.  The truth is, I don't work out everyday.  Hmmm, Michelob Ultra -- only 95 calories.

I awake on weekends thinking about how I can make my finished work leaner and tighter.  During the week, when I don't dose off in front of the computer screen (the perils of getting up shortly after 3AM for work) I try to master my craft.  Can that description be better?  Is the dialogue right for the setting or am I working on the long lost episodes of Magnum P.I.?  I find myself either working on the novel or plotting my strategy for securing the perfect agent.

I did a satellite interview with my man David Baldacci last week.  I asked him if he needed me to arrange an intervention and force him to take a vacation since his latest work, Deliver Us from Evil is out, a scant six months since his previous novel, True Blue.  I understand though.  When you're hot, you're hot.  And when those ideas just pop into your head, you have to put them on on paper.

The shameful moment on my part was when I told David that his agent, Aaron Priest, had yet to respond to my query letter.  He said he'd see him that afternoon.  Still haven't heard from Aaron and it's getting to the point where I might soon need to see a priest!

Thanks to author Sara Paretsky, agent Dominick Abel provided me with a sound critique of my first couple of chapters.  I debated changing them but I've always had an open mind and he has sold countless novels while I'm still trying to get noticed.  His advice centered on disposable characters and creating the real feeling of despair and danger in a thriller.  As writers, we all fall in love with our created universe and the people we put in them.  A character I love and took the time to cultivate may not be one the reader embraces.  The result is, like in a movie, a number of scenes will end up on the editing room floor, never to see the light of day.

It's a reality that makes rewriting a tough, but valued necessity.

The Dog Days of Writing

By now, I expected to be in the midst of a book signing tour, answering tough and insightful questions about my novel, smiling through the pain of writer's cramp.  Instead, I'm having an Ernest Hemingway moment, knocking back my favorite go to beverage, a rum & coke with lemon.

My novel is done and yet, each literary agent rejection or no response sends me back into tweaking mode. those rejections sting at first but I look at them as merely a test of conviction and perseverance. I think what I've written is good and worthy of print. It's sort of like dating. You just have to find the right agent and hope you make a good enough impression that your feelings are returned.

The one good feeling you can return to time after time is that you've actually finished a novel. No small feat by any measure. Doing so often means you've neglected your family and friends for a period of time. The disappointment comes when you have nothing to show for your hard work. My wife, sensing my frustration of not securing an agent yet, remarked: "Not as easy as you'd thought it be,eh?"

Slap!

That was not me slapping my wife, but instead reality going upside my head for anticipating success quickly. I've been a journalist for 28 years so I know how to write, interpret facts and deliver a story. Convincing an agent of that is as college football analyst Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast my friend." My novel, Operation Sandstorm, is a spy thriller and I've come to realize a majority of agents are hesitant to take on a first-time novelist in that genre because publishers are concerned about taking the risk of getting enough books sold to cover their cost.

Now, if I wanted to write a book that fit into the YA (young adult) crowd, which is highly popular now, I'd probably peak an agent's interest. Or, if you have a vampire detective investigating killer werewolves with a shape shifting assassin on the loose, you're as good as gold.

Those topics don't work for me. I grew up on spy thrillers. I started reading Ian Fleming long before it was age appropriate for me to do so. I transitioned into a series of escapism novels perfect for a budding teenager known as Nick Carter: Killmaster. Thank goodness for EBay because I tracked down a number of the titles and they're now part of my library.

Because of my profession, I've had the unique and wonderful opportunity to meet and interview writers in the thriller or mystery genre that I respect and enjoy reading. An inspirational moment came years ago when I lived in St. Thomas of the United States Virgin Islands. Robert Ludlum, my favorite author at the time, was vacationing on the island. He was informed that I wanted to interview him and he agreed. He invited me over and we sat out on the terrace overlooking the ocean for a couple of hours as he let me explore his mind. A cherished moment made more special by the personal note he sent me weeks after, expressing his delight over the interview. I still have that letter tucked away in one of his books.

So when I chat with the contemporaries; Vince Flynn, David Baldacci, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Sara Paretsky, and so forth, I long to join the club. My favorite book of all time is The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth. I went overboard in thanking him for writing such a masterpiece when I interviewed him but I'm not alone in that assessment as Tom Clancy agreed when the topic came up in conversation.

If you've written anything that hasn't sold yet or haven't found someone to represent your work, I'm sure you've had the experience of going to the bookstore and thumbing through the pages of those who've entered the kingdom. You're often left with that feeling of 'This person is published and I can't get a nibble! What the hell!' But, don't give up!

I'd love to sit around and chat some more, but there's tweaking to be done and a few more agents to target. Somebody out there has got to like me!