There's an interesting change that occurs when you sign with an agent. It's one I never thought about before I sent that contract back in.
I stopped waiting for my mail.
My snail mail, I mean.
While shopping for an agent I checked my e-mail compulsively, of course, but I also got very frustrated with my mail carrier if he was late. . . especially after I got a rash of partial and full requests via snail mail--which had never happened to me before. My SASEs always had rejections till about August of last year at which point I started receiving requests. It was very odd. I got about six requests via SASE.
Anyway, I don't wait for the mail anymore. I don't march out and demand why my post guy is not on schedule either and I imagine he greatly appreciates that. He waved at me today so I think I'm forgiven.:)
What I do wait for, is e-mail and the phone.
I don't generally get a lot of calls. We're on the Do Not Call list, my husband doesn't have a cell phone so he rarely calls me from school, most of my friends are online so we e-mail, and I admit, I'm a bit of a hermit (please tell me you can relate.) So when my very shrill phone rings my heart speeds up, I glance at my watch to see what time it is in New York, I clear my throat, and I push the button and say in my most professional voice, "Hello?"
Hasn't been Jodi yet, but I'm ready if it is!! (I know the one time I like just sneezed and have a sore throat and croak out, "What?" it'll be her. *rolls eyes*)
Okay, here's my shameless plug . . . Anyone who is obsessively waiting for e-mail should get a G-mail account. Seriously. Want one? e-mail me, I'll forward you an invite. I have like a zillion. G-mail is Google's e-mail program and I LOVE it! It has this search function, which is cool, and tons of free storage, but the part that is invaluable to me, is that it continually refreshes. This means that I can open my e-mail account and then minimize it to the bottom of the screen so all I see is a little rectangle on the tool bar that says, "Gmail, Inbox." And then I can open up my WIP and work to my little heart's content without worrying about my e-mail. I don't have to stop working and open up my browser and refresh my inbox page to check my mail. I just take a quarter of a second to glance down at that little square. And since it refreshes continually, if I have an e-mail, that little square will instantly say, "Gmail, Inbox (1)." Now come on, admit it, that's cool.:)
Anyway, enough of my advertising for Google. I think they do well enough without my input.;)
Ciao!
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11 comments:
I have MSN email, and it does the same thing.
I Love It!
I have AOL, Yahoo, and Gmail...lol. Too many. I had to get yahoo to join a particular writer's group, and I had to get gmail so I would not have to put my actually e-mail address on my blog...
I use Gmail and still refresh. It's a compulsion. Of course, I've found those emails never come when I'm sitting at my computer looking for them. And the snail mail never comes on days I think about the possibility of getting an SASE back. Don't you just love playing head games with yourself?
I love gmail! If you have googletalk, you don't have to have an open window to tell you if you have new mail. You just look at the bubble and it tells you. And it provides a quick shortcut to your gmail account. You have a convert here!
KC
I know what you mean!
Since my agent's on the West Coast, he typically calls between 5:30 - 9pm my time. I'm like a teenager between those hours, making everybody stay off the phone!
We have voice mail, so I could always call him back. But since 5:30 - 9pm my time is the end of HIS business day, I might miss him and, horror of horrors, actually have to wait until the next day (noon - even!) to hear what he has to say!
Crazy!
I'm JUST like you, at almost the very same stage, and I have gmail...
I also have my loudspeakers on so if I am inanother room and I hear that inbox PING my heart leaps. And then I force myself not to rush to the computer, but to finidh whatever I am doing and NOT htink that it might bem it just might be....
Living actross the Atlantic means that the times are a bit screwed up - I never expect a call in the am, for instance. In fact, I try not to epcet a call ever. Remember Aruna;s Law? The Call never comes when you expect it!
"I use Gmail and still refresh."
That's called paranoid.;)
"Remember Aruna;s Law? The Call never comes when you expect it!"
I was actually going to mention that in this blog and forgot. I LIVE by Aruna's Law!! . . . that and Murphy's.:)
What an exciting time for you! Congratulations on landing an agent, and I hope you didn't come this far for nothing. To be honest, when your proposal is still ingering on an editor's desk, so many emotions whirl through your body. I mean, you want a happy ending, but it's not guaranteed. You've been waiting 25 days, but I've been waiting over a year. Seven Editors with five rejections with two still considering. Publishing is such a slow business. Aqusitions meetings are once a month in some houses, and if one important person can't make it, it's postponed for another month. All the while your nervously checking your email. Hell, we even check the bulk mail to make sure it didn't slip by.
While I do hope you capture dreams, if it doesn't happen as fast as you would like, don't panic. When you least expect it, your agent will get an e-mail out of the blue. The hard part is waiting for the next one. Then the next one.
So be patient and master your craft. Stay sharp so when you get that memorable call, you'll have your verbs polished and writing tight.
Best,
Sportscribe from AW
My Yahoo email does the same thing. If I get a new email while the comp is on it lets me know. :)
i loooooove gmail
I'm like you... a bit of a hermit and obsessed with knowing if I've gotten that e-mail from my agent yet...
In fact, I should probably go check.
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