Oh well, I guess everyone knows about my warts now...

My brain is always tumbling through ideas on how to advance my writing career (within reason of course, there are some things I would NEVER do just to get published) and one thing that often crops up is the benefits of having an agent. I know some agent/author success stories. I know some agent/author fails. Sometimes I think I should go there but a couple of things hold me back. I do not rule it out forever though. I like this list here at the Rejectionist about what kind of behaviour you should expect from your agent. I am squirreling this info away for future reference.

I like this post here too - a checklist for getting published. Are you dedicated? Are you informed? Are you the right amount of crazy? Good, you have just inched closer to your goal. Its good to remember that all our little writerly neuroses are actually a sign of how comitted we are to writing and being published. Being upset by a rejection is healthy. I like that.

I also came across this and have to say I was a tad freaked and a touch horrified and most of all piqued that there was nowhere to comment on the post. I try my darndest to keep my trap shut but the screws are a bit loose and it just falls open all the time. I try not to name names if I am unhappy about something but I feel its useful to discuss the nuts and bolts of how the industry works, good and bad. One of the most important things you can do as an author is understand the industry. I tend to think of it as a healthy debate on the ins and outs of the business and lets face it, its not always a smooth running well oiled machine. I hope I have not stepped over the boundaries. And I like to post up my material from time to time and I'm surprised that freshness (not as in 'freshness of idea' but 'how recent/new the ms is') is such a key motivating factor in editorial decisions. Oh well, I guess everyone knows about my warts now.

I'm still chugging away on the WIP with deadline so posting will be brief. And my youngest turns thirteen today so I am off to the supermarket to buy ingrediants for his favourite dessert - chocolate mousse. It's his first day at high school today. He has two tests this morning to determine class placement. I think I might double the chocolate in the recipe.