Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Introducing Emily -- New Year’s Resolutions…not so much

Tip of the Day: Have a wonderful and safe New Year’s Day, everyone!

Of course, my introductory post would have to fall on New Year’s Day. The day itself is making me feel like I should post New Year’s Resolutions on behalf of our blog. Something along the lines of:

  • We promise to never blog about Britney Spears or even Jamie Lynn
  • We promise to never post author pictures of us wearing any of these outfits
  • We promise to stop eating so much chocolate and eat more vegetables to grow our writer brains

However, according to Wikipedia, New Year’s Resolutions are a “lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous.” Not saying that any of the above aren’t “advantageous,” but since Author2Author is brand new and this is the first mention of Jamie Lynn, I don’t think there’s anything that needs resoluting or changing as of yet. Plus, I can’t speak for all of us here at A2A, and unbeknownst to me, one of my fellow A2A Misses might really want to write about Britney Spears little sister, while wearing a strapless, zebra-print dress and eating left-over holiday candy. (I’m not naming names, or anything, though).

Also, I do think the point of this post was to introduce myself. So instead of resolutions, you will get a bulleted list about me. (Which is really to your benefit. Because also according to Wikipedia “many resolutions go unachieved and are often broken fairly shortly after they are set.” --- Who would have guessed it, but if it’s on Wikipedia is must be true, right?):

  • My name is Emily, Miss Awaiting an Agent.
  • Though given the slow-moving nature of publishing, I probably shouldn’t have picked a name with any form of “waiting” in the title. It would be nice if all I had to do was lounge around in a pool sipping Mai Tais (or in my case, it’s probably more likely to be a Shirley Temple) and having agents hunting me down, but I’m not delusional enough to think that’s a possibility. However, Agent Seeking, didn’t have as cool of an alliterative name.
  • I’ve been writing fiction seriously for about two years.
  • I’m a horrible writer.
  • I’m a decent re-writer. But I’m still not good enough to break through this crazy publishing world.
  • I’m currently in the process of writing my third book and have some queries, partials, and fulls still out on book number two, though, as of now, I’m focusing most of my energy on my current work-in-progress.
  • I tend to write chick-lit books with some mystery element. Even though, I keep telling myself over and over: mystery books are hard for me to write.
  • I have a sickness for putting musicians as lead guys in my book. I start out with an athletic, jock who builds muscle cars in his free time and end up with a tattooed musician who recites poetry in his spare time.
  • I don’t pretend to know everything about writing or getting an agent, clearly, since I am still agentless, but I have learned a few things over the past two years about the querying and writing process that that I’m excited to share. And I hope to learn tons more from all of you.

Please let me know if you are also in the “Awaiting An Agent” stage. I’d love to hear from you!


Til Next Tuesday,


Emily, Miss Awaiting an Agent

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

You could edit Wikipedia to say that "most New Years resolutions are achieved." That might alter the culture of resolutions, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, and then everyone would achieve theirs. Or not.

Emily Marshall said...

Excellent idea!

I think we could start a new New Year's Resolutions craze.

Kate Fall said...

Hi Emily:

Would you write me a book with an athletic musician who builds muscular poetry in his spare time? I think that would do it for me.

Great first post. I'll think of working in Britney somewhere in the future.

Ghost Girl (aka, Mary Ann) said...

Hey Emily! Glad to meet you. I guess I'm a "waiting for the next thing to happen" gal. "Hoping that next thing will be a contract" gal. I'm revising my first ms for a full request (yay), but I have to get my buns in gear and finish. Should have sent it a month ago, but I'll lean on the holidays as an excuse.

So what do you do when your "resolution" is at the mercy of some crazed, maniacal editor? (Well, maybe not crazed or maniacal...)

DeenaML said...

Resolutions are tricky -- can I resolve to get a publishing contract, or not really bc like ghost girl said above, it is in someone else's hands? :)

Then again, if most resolutions are NOT achieved, I guess I don't want that to be one!

Ironically, my resolution for 2008 is to make myself more concrete, attainable goals - I work MUCH better with deadlines!

Emily Marshall said...

Kate, I can't stop laughing.

Ghost Girl, I know it's hard when you can't control your resolutions, I guess that's why people only do ones they have control over. Which is clearly why I couldn't resolve to not speak about Britney :)

No seriously, I wish you luck as you submit your full. That's a great accomplishment and something to celebrate!

Deena, yep we already know we are both Deadline-oriented Gals (which by the way would make an excellent Crowned-the Mother of All Pageants team name:). But hey, I say there's nothing wrong with setting unattainable resolutions as Wikipedia pointed out. I say go for it!

Kristina Springer said...

I actually achieved a number of my resolutions from last year-- go figure!! My favorite one that was not achieved said something like: Lose X amount of weight as I will NOT be getting pregnant and have no excuse. Ha ha for that one!

Anonymous said...

So, would I be considered "Awaiting an Agent" if I haven't yet submitted, but I plan to do so in the very new future? :-)
It sounds like we have a lot in common.
I'm looking forward to more posts from you.

Emily Marshall said...

JmPrince, Welcome to the stage. I'm not technically submitting anything at right at this moment, now, either. :)

Tina, that made me laugh. Maybe that can be your goal for 2008.

Sherryl said...

Thanks for the link - those totally horrible dresses and "outfits" really cheered me up!
They even sparked an idea.