Maybe Not Daring For You, But For Me...

THE BACKGROUND:
In 2010, I was searching for an agent and I submitted a story to this woman I'd heard good things about. She gave me great comments, suggestions and then passed on representing that story. BUT she said she'd read something else if I wanted to send something and she also said keep her updated if anything changed with this particular story. I didn't have anything ready for her at the time & just decided to put my agent search on hold.

In 2011, I received a full request from an editor at Harlequin. I sent the full the very next day.

In April 2012, I contacted the editor for an update since it had been about a year (and I have, in the past, had communication problems due to cyberspace). She assured me she had it and would get to it soon.

In May 2012, I got the revise & resubmit letter from the Harlequin editor. Of course, I was ecstatic, but I was working on submissions for Decadent so I promised myself (and the editor) I'd get to the revisions late June & July.

THIS WEEK:
Since getting back from the beach vacation, I've been feeling like I'd be overwhelmed with the revisions & incapable of doing them correctly. BUT, yesterday I started reading through the manuscript (since I haven't read it in over a year) and through the editor comments (since she'd given me such awesome comments in the letter). I started getting ideas about how to fix things & add scenes, and I got excited about brainstorming. Then, I thought, "How wonderful it would be to have someone else's eye on this" (besides my AWESOME CP who doesn't write romantic suspense) & lately I've also been thinking about going back on the agent search since I now HAVE a writing career started. I started thinking again about the constructive criticism I've received from agents before and the agent from 2010 popped into my head.

SO:
I threw caution to the wind last night and typed up an email to her. I explained how she'd rejected this story but said to keep her updated, told her about the Harlequin revise & resubmit letter, and gave her details of my writing adventures since I contacted her in 2010.

I was nervous because I didn't want to come off as obnoxious or one of those writers who can't accept a rejection. With our business having such small circles, I didn't want to burn any bridges.

This morning, I got an email back from the agent who assured me I wasn't out of line, said she's really busy, but she'd gladly look at the revised partial. Whoohooo!

NOW:
I better get busy this week!