NOLA Written in the Stars

I spent my weekend in Shreveport, Louisiana, with a bunch of great people. I learned a lot. I put myself out there and pitched JB to a pair of agents from New York. In person. True, I spent eight years in art critiques, but I graduated college 10 years ago, so I'm a bit out of practice laying it all out on the table. And the agents were really great.

Jenny Bent, of The Bent Agency, graciously let me pitch even thought she doesn't represent Science Fiction. She looked at a few pages, gave me some GREAT feedback, and gave me permission to drop her name when I query the agent who works for her, so she's super cool in my book. And her workshop on query letters was fantastic.

Weronika Janczuk is an agent with D4EO. I found her several weeks ago and have had her on my list of people to query so I was very excited to see that she'd be at the NOLA conference. She was fantastic. She was enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the publishing industry. Finally, she liked my pitch. Actually, she interrupted my pitch to tell me that Matty sold the idea. It actually startled me. I froze. My entire brain went "Oh my god, did she just say 'sold'?" She did. She wanted to know more. We talked about the novel's structure. She wanted me to email files so she could read on the plane.

Yes, I just said that January Black is in the hands of a New York agent who requested to see it! She still has to read it and then like it enough to want to represent it, but it's a huge step forward. Even better, I like Weronika and I'd love to work with her, so I really hope she likes what she sees.

Cross your fingers and toes!