My Agent Said "I think you'll get this published"!!!!

Today I got a Positive Response From My Literary Agent!

 

Today I got a Positive Response From My Literary Agent!

September of 2011, my mother, Jo Lyn Bartz, passed away after a month in the hospital from respiratory failure.  This summer, I began writing a memoir to share the story of surviving and thriving in a family with genetic disease, telling how I lost my mother and brother to myotonic dystrophy.  I sent my first query letters to agents July 14^th of this year.  3 hours later, I had a positive response from an agent.  I then started extensive research on how to create a complete proposal for literary non-fiction, and created a complete proposal ready for agents and book contests.  July 18^th I had a positive response from Quest Magazine in publishing an article excerpt from my memoir, From My Mother.  On September 26^th, I sent my complete proposal to my literary agent, including links to my newly published article and a poem which was selected to a Kansas poem of the week in September (http://150kansaspoems.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/mom-dad-and-dustin-on-the-beach-of-the-great-salt-lake-1997-by-darcy-leech/). 

Since then I have written to page 156 and have an almost complete draft.  I still have to write the hardest part of the book, recounting my mother’s last days in long-term critical care in Wichita.  I’ve been dragging my feet in writing in part because the end of the book is so emotionally charged that it changed my mood for a few days to relive it all to write.  I know the story is important, and I know the writing is worth it.  I had been waiting on The Christopher Doheny Award to announce a winner to hopefully gain some motivation or have more direction (http://www.centerforfiction.org/awards/the-christopher-doheny-award/).  Originally, the award was supposed to be named by the end of November.  I emailed when it wasn’t posted Dec. 1^st, and found out the announcement had been delayed to January. 

I had felt a little stalled, started spending my free time playing with Magic cards or other distractions rather than writing, avoiding the catharsis of writing the final chapter.  Over summer I had a Bible study with great and wise women who prayed for me every Tuesday and encouraged my writing.  I felt so much momentum over summer I was sure I was going to be published and felt very proud of myself to be a paid author after getting the check in my hands and physical copy of my Quest Magazine article (http://darcyleech.blogspot.com/2013/10/beyond-willpower-caring-for-brother-and.html) .  Then, since October, writing felt slow, the momentum felt as if it dwindled, and as a busy teacher, I began to think next summer I would pick the project up again. 

Then today, Dec. 5^th, I got this email:

Hi, Darcy, you have done a wonderful job of presenting your work, but I think that you can make this stronger. I am going to offer thoughts that you can take or leave, but they are meant to try to help you achieve the goal of publishing this book.

 

Your marketing sections are superb. No changes there. Your chapter summaries are fine; they indicate the flow of the story in a clean, straightforward way.

 

Basically, I like your handling of the story, but there just isn't enough texture in it yet--that's my opinion, of course. Storytelling is a very challenging art. You have to guide the reader in terms of pacing, conjuring up images of places and people, and so on.

 

Take another look at your sample material and ask yourself if someone would be able to get enough images and grasp of emotions to make a great movie out of it.

 

I don't think this needs a huge amount of work, but I would like to see you take it up a notch in terms of literary quality.

 

I hope you will feel comfortable coming back to me when you do this; if you think that my advice isn't useful, I understand. I think you will get this published; I'm just trying to nudge you along a bit more so this book is the best it can be.

 

Kind regards, ** my possibly favorite person ever if this works out ***

 

My agent gave me a specific task, positive feedback, and thinks I will get published!

 

Amazing, wonderful, beautiful news! 

I shouted in joy when I read that email then commenced to dance around the room with my husband, Daniel, until my son wanted to join in and asked us to play ‘ring around the rosie,’ which we did.

 

My momentum is back. I have a story worth telling.  My mother’s legacy will be honored and people will know a little more of what it means to be part of a family with genetic disease because I will write and publish From My Mother. 

 

What I need now are readers.  I need to add more sensory details,  I need to show my reader what is happening.  I need to increase the literary merit of my first draft.  Who’s with me? 

 

(I’ll pay, or mention you in a published book’s acknowledgments – which ever you prefer!)

 

Game on!  Let’s make this happen.