Buzzy Bee Busy Bee

Yet another of my usual promises to post more-- soon! Really. I mean it this time. I know I said that those other times, but this time it's for real. C'mon baby, you know I wouldn't do you like that...

Of course, I'm not the only blogger to go dark around the holidays. I'm just one of the few not on any sort of holiday.

The changes Agent Anne suggested have been written and rewritten, and the Poison Door is stronger for it. That goes out in the email tomorrow.

Comics are being drawn. More or less. I love them, so of course give in only sparingly to those forbidden desires that so easily engulf my world.

My reading pile is falling. Rapidly. It got pretty tall there, since I write the sort of stuff I love to read, but reading the sort of stuff I write stuffs me up. It's awfully hard to listen to the unique voice inside me when I'm also trying to do cut-rate Dennis Lehane impressions.

The next book has started clawing its way out from under my skin. More on that in another post.

And despite the nastiest, wettest, coldest damn summer in seven decades, people keep coming in for their warm weather tattoo fix. Which means nights with my hand on ice and cold drinks pressed to my forehead. Big deal.

And I'm told that somewhere in there, I gave some lovely people presents and received wrapped packages from them as well. I understand food may have been involved.

Ah, I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Ain't That a Kick in the Head

Wow. So this morning, I got myself an agent. A mighty fine one too: Anne Hawkins, of John Hawkins Associates. I've been dancing a happy little Snoopydance all over the walls today, no surprise.

From Miss Snark, The Rejector, Lit Soup, and others, I hear this is supposed to be a long, hard drudge of a process. For me, not so much. I sent out six queries, got one immediate request for an exclusive three weeks to read the full manuscript. And I've still got a week and a half left before that deadline. It's a pretty enthusiastic 'yes' on both sides!

Of course, I wrote three novels in two years before I had something good enough to show. And I was pretty careful in my choice of queries, too. The Poison Door is an odd beast: hardboiled noir full of two-fisted action, but with an offbeat literary bent. No point querying agents who rep cozies, or police procedurals, or Carl Hiassen-style madcap hijinx.

Incidentally, I haven't forgotten to follow up my comics pages post. I've just been busy. The pages themselves are done, but the wee essay on how they got that way will have to wait for the next free minute I get.

Patience, gentle readers...