My novel, DRIVING FORCE, has just been accepted by an agent!

It has taken me three hours to come down far enough off the ceiling to type this message. I'm thrilled to bits and wanted to share it with you. Hopefully it will encourage others who are setting off on the rocky road to finding an agent. It is about 18 months since I started the search and, as I've said recently on other threads, I have learned to live with rejection.
So it just goes to show - perseverance pays in the longrun.

OK... I'm off to celebrate now... see you at the other side of my hangover.
Dee.

Dee

many congartulations enjoy the hangover

david

Dee, that's absolutely fantastic, congratulations!

Well done Dee.. many best wishes...have a great celebration!

Ellie

Congratulations Dee... Well done! Perseverance pays indeed! So the next stage is to find a publisher? Did your agent give you any indication on that score?

Andrew

No Andrew, all he said was that he thinks I've produced a saleable novel. The next stage really is for us to meet up and make sure we can work together. I've been in touch with him by email for about three months now so we're slowly getting to know each other and he seems like someone I can relate to. He rejected the first novel I sent him, after reading the full ms, so I asked him to read DRIVING FORCE before writing me off completely and he agreed. The upshot is - he knows that I am determined, that I have more than one novel in me and he believes he can sell my work. I don't think he would have offered to take me on otherwise.

Dee.

Fantastic Dee! Brilliant.

Wonderful news, Dee - will look forward to buying the finished work!!

Anne B

That's fabulous, Dee! Have a Chelsea Bun, or whatever it was, for me. First step towards fame, wealth and greatness, I'm sure.

Best,

Mike

Thanks everyone,

It's so good to share this with people like you, who understand the process.

Dee

Brilliant Dee, warms the cockles like anything and shows us all that persistence is the key. Cheers, Hilary

I think persistence and the ability to bounce back from rejection - however painful - is what separates real writers from people who think they can write. It's a hard slog, as is any craft. If we had, for instance, the ambition to play clarinet with the London Phil, we wouldn't expect to achieve that overnight. Writing is no different. We have to learn and grow and hone our style.
The real bummer is from people who don't write and have no concept of what we put into our work. I've got a full-time job, as most of us do. I told a colleague my good news today and her response was 'Aren't you lucky. You'll have to start taking it seriously now.'
Seriously? Start taking it seriously! I nearly ripped her head off!
But I'm cool today. So I let her live...

Cheers
Dee.
ps - the hangover was probably a record-breaker.

Well done Dee, you're right, it's all about not giving up. I've had 12 months of rejection and the offer of an agent if I could write a different novel - but I still believe, fool that I am, thanks for spurning me on.

Congratulations dee! Not jealous at all! Good luck with it all. I'll keep an eye out for it in bookstores. James x

Yes Dee, I'd have wanted to rip her head off too, as if what you've been doing is a hobby! Let's hope she doesn't say 'they say everyone's got a novel in them, don't they?' Then you should deal with her.