Wednesday, November 28, 2007

What I Did on My Thanksgiving Vacation

Well, it was supposed to be a vacation

And is was supposed to start at 3:00, like all the other editorial publishing personnel, but I had had a book deal blow up and I was waiting to talk to the publisher. And that did not go well, so I then talked to the author, and we went into the Thanksgiving holiday aggrieved.

So I spent a big portion of the holiday thinking how I might be able to make this book deal work, which was annoying, because instead of watching the parade, or enjoying the pumpkin cheesecake, I was reworking this now very complicated book deal in my head.

Friday I got my nails done, which I was supposed to do on Wednesday, and read two partials, which I liked, but knew needed work, so I had to decide whether or not I (a) knew how to fix them and b) if I liked them enough to commit to rereading and editing.

Saturday decided to get up early and hit the sales and I was surprised that everything I wanted was still in the stores, which just goes to show you that this is going to be a lean year for the economy. Saturday afternoon I took my son to Pizza Uno and Enchanted. I did not find it quite as charming as my colleague, Jenny Rappaport. While I loved the concept and the fact that it was a spoof of Disney fantasies by Disney, it just wasn't sarcastic enough for me. The only part of the story that I felt worked on that level was when the princess cleans up her bachelor-dad's apartment with the help of the urban creatures - pigeons, mice, rats, bugs.

Sunday I cleaned the house (without the help of the magical urban creatures).

Monday strapped myself back in and had the fun of learning that three books I thought were going to sell, didn't. So that meant I start from scratch on those again.

Wrote to the two authors whose partials I had read over the weekend and gave them the news that I thought they needed to rewrite their books. Both were actually pleased with my suggestions, so I now have two new clients. Yeah, I think.

Also got a request to mentor someone. Explored that and found she is interested in agenting erotica, so I have agreed to show her the ropes.

Tuesday was so intense that I made myself breakfast at 10:32 and didn't eat it until 11:45. I was on the phone for an hour straight.

Edited another proposal that came in right before the holiday, and did two readings of a contract that was already a week late (their fault, not mine).

Emailed all the editors who have stuff they promised to get back to me on.

Keep on wondering why I am so tired.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, Lori, that sounds like a crazy week! I don't know how you do it?

Emily (esckeyes@yahoo.com)

Anonymous said...

I would think that most authors would kill to have a tigress like you working on their behalf.

I really like your style.

Karen Duvall said...

Phew! I'm exhausted just reading your blog. Yay on the new clients! Boo on the no sales. 8^(

ryan field said...

You mention agenting erotica. Without going into detail, I have been writing it and getting it published for many years. The one thing I've always found, though it's a remarkable genre with some of the best editors around, is that there's not much money in it. Can someone actually earn a decent living agenting erotica?

Anonymous said...

Wow, you're the first person I've known to not like a Disney film because it wasn't sarcastic enough! ;)

I'm sure your authors appreciate all the work you put in. Be careful you don't burn out, though.

- Jaden
www.undergroundunrest.com/blog