Small business owner is one of those epithets I never thought I’d be picking out of life’s bin and pinning to my chest. Every time I’m referred to as “the boss,” I suppress the urge to check behind me for my last employer. Regardless, a whirlwind of serendipity scuttled me here, for which I’m grateful….
+ the query that led me to my agent Today, I’m bringing you a pastiche of wisdom-learned-the-hard-way, resources-I-wish-I-knew-about-earlier, and the query that got the attention of a Big5 editor and that landed me with my agent (I swear, someday I’ll write a HIGMA post about that wild tale). #1 Pitch Your Friends First. Y’all, my…
Apparently, if you pick up a bullhorn and start announcing “I HAVE A LITERARY AGENT!” while parading around the neighborhood at 6 am, your fanfare will consist of excited police sirens, joyous cursing, and bouquets of shoes lovingly lobbed in your direction. But in case you missed my thrilling twilit tidings: (deep inhale, lifts bullhorn)…
Did you know that losses are twice as potent as their equivalent gains? This psychological concept underpins the idea of “loss aversion,” a cognitive bias that often tests a writer’s will to continue on through the query gauntlet. For some, the cumulative pain of rejections can outweigh the potential gain of snagging that offer, which…