Definitely not a bad idea…

E-mailing Caryn turned out to be a very good idea! She never received my last e-mail with the attachments. If it wasn’t for that Albert Whitman proposal (which, btw, she didn’t actually ask to see), I probably would’ve let at least another month go by before nudging her. And I may not have nudged her at all…I may have just moved on, assuming she was another one of those rude people who doesn’t respond if she’s not interested. Note to self (and anyone else who’s listening): if you don’t hear back, it really is possible they didn’t get it! Especially if you sent it via e-mail.

After apologizing profusely, she asked me to resend my material and promised to look at it “immediately.” Am I getting cynical in my old age or what? I assumed that in editor/agent time, “immediately” meant “sometime in the next two months.” But no…

I had my teen writing group this afternoon. I resent my material to Caryn right before I left. When I got back, there was already a response from her. She said she likes my work and wants to bring it to the next agency meeting! (Hooray!) That’s pretty darn immediate! Of course, it’s not an offer of representation yet…and unfortunately, she’s going on vacation, so that agency meeting won’t be until the end of June or beginning of July. But she asked for an exclusive until then. I told her I could do that.

I’m feeling good about this. My only hesitation is I looked her up on the Andrea Brown website right after Laura Rennert passed me on to her…it says she’s most interested in sports, Latino-themes and historical, none of which I write. I really don’t even think of Sliding Into Home as a “sports novel.” I think of it as a “girl empowerment” story. But we’ll see… “Most interested in” isn’t necessarily the same as “ONLY interested in.”

I like that she responded right away to both those e-mails today. And I liked the tone of her e-mails. She seems very professional. I’ve heard that agents at this agency “won’t be your best friend.” I’m not looking for a new best friend…I’m looking for a professional who will help me manage my career.