TGIF-anyone else really glad it's Friday night? It's been a long week, and I'm looking forward to a quiet evening with my hubby and our dog, a pizza, and the first Illinois football game of the year (GO ILLINI!). The laundry is almost done, the house is vacuumed, and I just placed our grocery order for the week. All my lesson plans for next week and the asynchronous assignments to go with them are done and in Google classroom, and all of this week's student work is graded and logged onto my spreadsheets. Let the weekend begin!
Update on my journey to the bookshelf:
For the past several weeks, an agent and I communicated about my manuscript as she expressed an interest during the past PitMad event on Twitter in September. After receiving my material, she said she really liked my writing, my characters, and the charming town I'd created. She made suggestions for improvements, which I enthusiastically made. This went back and forth for weeks-she offering suggestions, and I making revisions to the manuscript. The R-word (representation) was even mentioned once. Then after my fourth edit for her, she emailed and said the words I've come to hate, "I'm sorry. I just didn't connect as I'd hoped." So, she liked it before I made edits, but then couldn't connect with the suggestions she herself made? (Shaking my head)
Needless to say, this was a huge disappointment. I spent hours every day working on her revisions, only to be told no yet again. I will admit my writing has become stronger and cleaner with her advice and guidance, so for that, I do thank her. I'll never understand her-but I thank her.
Two days after this rejection, I received an email from a publishing company who would like to speak to me about acquiring my novel for publication...stay tuned.
One of the issues the agent who rejected me had was how quickly the romantic plot advanced. She thought it was unrealistic. "No one falls in love at first sight" -a direct quote from her. For someone whose agency represents a lot of romance authors, this seems like a rather pessimistic attitude. So I'm asking you, my friends and readers, do you believe in love at first sight?
My main character, Jillian, didn't until she met Travis and felt the immediate sparks between them. Here's a teaser from a scene between these two lovebirds.
~~~ "Thank you for your jacket. I hadn't realized how cold I was until we stepped out of Jack's garage." Jillian pulled the coat tightly around her.
"No problem," Travis said. "Are you ok? I mean, you look a little shaken up."
"I'm fine. It's just... standing there staring at Jack's car, knowing it was most likely the vehicle that killed Maggie-it got to me, I guess."
A solitary tear trickled down her face. Travis reached over and wiped it away, trailing his thumb down her soft cheek. He jerked his hand away and began apologizing.
"Jillian. I'm so sorry." He stammered nervously. "I hate to see a woman cry, but that's no excuse for touching you like that." He looked up, ready for her rebuke, only to find her smiling back at him.
"Travis, there's no need to apologize," Jillian said. "You're sweet to be concerned." She leaned over and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.
She must have caught him off guard with her kiss because Travis seemed to have lost the ability to speak. All he could do was smile and put his arm around her as she leaned against him for warmth. ~~~
Aren't they sweet together? And there's so much more to their story in future books in this series. Maybe I'll start sharing teasers from Book 2: Murdered by Mistake.
The pizza has been ordered, and I need to start the last laundry load before the football game starts. I hope you all have a great weekend full of relaxation and fun. I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments on the burning question of the day-Do you believe in love at first sight?
Until next time,
Jodi