Any of you writing poetry? There are six days left to enter this!

Poetry contest. Fish Publishing Poetry Competition.

One newsletter I subscribe to is this one from Chuck Sambuchino – Editor, GLA and CWIM. Find the newsletter here: http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents . It’s full of useful information for writers who are looking to find representation. I know lots of you have asked me how to find an agent – hopefully Chuck can help you out! One of the titbits from Chuck’s most recent newsletter is below:

Agents Seeking Clients NOW

Click on any name below to see the full mini-profile on the GLA Blog (with submission instructions). Good luck querying!

1. Allison Hunter of Inkwell Management

She is seeking: She is actively acquiring literary and commercial fiction (including romance), memoir, narrative nonfiction, cultural studies, pop culture and prescriptive titles, including cookbooks. She is always looking for funny female authors, great love stories and family epics, and for nonfiction projects that speak to the current cultural climate.

2. Caitlen Rubino Bradway of LKG Agency

(This is an agent spotlight, not a new agent alert. She is putting out a call for new queries.) She is seeking: “I personally am looking for middle grade and young adult fiction. In teen novels, Sci-fi/fantasy is my sweet spot, but I’m open to anything as long as it doesn’t have zombies. (For a more detailed description of what I’m looking for, you can check out my blog post at our website.) “Also, the LKG Agency [which has one other agent] is always on the lookout for nonfiction, both practical and narrative. We specialize in women’s focused how-to, such as parenting, lifestyle, health & nutrition, and beauty, but we are open to a lot of nonfiction genres. (For a full list you can check out the submission guidelines on our website.)”

Editing is crucial. Probably, for me, it’s the biggest and most important part of writing a book. But sometimes I have to step out of the editorial phase and remind myself just how much I love writing for my eyes only. It’s okay to make mistakes, to write badly, to mess up, to put in characters who won’t stay in the final draft. This is the phase of writing when I remind myself that the first draft is not the last draft. I feel like I’m arriving in a new country when I start writing like this, but I’ve forgotten my travel guidebook. I have only the days before me and all those new foods, places and people to encounter and explore, all in a language I don’t know. I love that feeling. And I know I’ll come back to visit this same new country better prepared next time – perhaps with a full first draft, perhaps only with a few thousand words under my belt. For now, it’s all about exploring and having fun.

What are you working on and what part of the process are you at? Leave me a note (see the top right of the home page) and let me know!