Michelle McGinnis

I have no details as of yet, but it looks like I’ll be participating in a booksigning at a Borders in Austin on Saturday, September 8.

As I type I’m mentally mapping the bookstore in my mind, readying myself to give directions to the bathroom. This, I hear, is the main activity debut authors such as myself may expect to engage in at their first booksigning.

Still, I’m excited, and nervous, and on tenterhooks. Will the store stock Recipe for Love in time? Will anyone come?

But this is dull. What have I been doing since I last updated this site, you silently (oh, so silently!) scream?

I’ve been reading a quite wonderful book - Jenny Crusie’s Bet Me - and taking notes on every single scene, recording:

• Point of view,
• Main action points, and
• Page count.

It’s an interesting exercise. It’s slowing down what’s normally a very fast read and forcing me to think about what she’s doing in each scene, how the characters are changing, where the hints are getting dropped and theme developed. Once I’m done I’ll chart how her POV shifts add up and map the whole thing to Michael Hauge’s six stage plot structure. I’m sure the next time I do the exercise I’ll think of other things to chart and think through, but for a first go this is enough. I can tell it’s going to help my writing and it satisfies a bone-deep need I have to tear things apart and understand them from the bones out.

But man, toward the end of this particular story, it’s haaarrd to slow down enough to record each scene. I love this book and want to gobble it up!

One and a half years after my short story “A Spaghetti Kind of Love” was accepted for inclusion in the anthology Recipe for Love, the book has appeared on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble!

This has been a great experience for me. I’ve learned a bit about the publishing industry - from this lowly angle I see large wheels, spinning slowly, no matter what size the publisher - and I’ve had my first taste of having my work edited. (I liked it.)

I’m a bit scared to read my story once my copy of the book actually arrives since it’s been so long since I wrote it. What will I see?! I’m betting that I’ll be tempted to rip it apart, filled with new ideas for making it better. To be honest I’m hoping that will be my reaction. If my writing hasn’t improved in a year and a half, I haven’t been working hard enough.

I got back from the RWA conference a few hours ago, and decided to indulge myself with a few hours of reading and quiet. Conference is amazing, but I’m a writer, Jim, not a schmoozer!

Plus, I got a lot of books while I was there, and who can resist that?
So…. six hours later, I finished reading a debut novel that blew my mind, Sherry Thomas’s Private Arrangements.

Oh, Sherry. My metaphorical hat is most decidedly off to you.

This book is delicious, from enticing start to delectable finish. It took me far away from Texas, to the beautiful, rich, intricately luscious England of the last few decades of the 1800’s. Camden and his Gigi are strong, vital people who scheme and plot to win each other’s love and their story kept me reading from the moment I picked it up until I reluctantly put it down. I didn’t want to say goodbye, and I still don’t. Thank you Sherry!

I wish I could send all you people out there in cyberspace to the bookstores to buy this great book, but it’s not available in bookstores until March of next year. (That’s right, I have a precious “ARC” or Advanced Reading Copy. Muahaha.) I’m a really nice person, though, and I’m going to think of a way to share this with someone out there… it won’t just sit on my shelf. Wanna get lucky?

I am loving this conference! It’s very different than my first “nationals” last year, where I walked around in a gaga-haze, nearly fainting at the sight of my favorite authors doing exotic and unexpected things like eating food and drinking beer.

Because I started off this conference with the fantastic news about my contest win - which was totally unexpected as I thought winners would be announced August 15, the date I had marked on my calendar to start worrying - I’ve been spending more time trying to talk to agents than I’d originally planned.

I’ve heard a bunch of agents (and editors) speak, and have a better sense now of their personal styles and who might be a good fit for me both in terms of my personality and my planned career. I’ve even spoken to a few, including Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Literary Agency, who’s just as nice, funny and intelligent in person as she is on her terrific blog.

I’m thrilled — my contemporary romance has placed first in the first contest I ever entered, the Central Ohio Fiction Writers’ “Ignite the Flame” contest. My twelve pages and short optional description (which has now changed, but you can read it in my post from May) are on their way to the desk of Chris Keeslar, a senior editor at Dorchester Publishing.

Even better, I learned that I won the contest on Wednesday while I was here in Dallas at the Romance Writers of America national conference, and I’ve had the opportunity to both meet and hear Chris Keeslar speak, and he seems like a very smart and personable guy.

*Curtsying to Chris across the cybermiles*

My plan for finding an agent:

1. Figure out who I am as a writer and develop a writing business plan. Read and do all the exercises Jenny Crusie laid out in her wonderful essay “It’s all about you: the first step in finding an agent“
2. Research, research, research. Ask for recommendations from writer friends, read up on what agents are selling via Publishers Marketplace and their sites, and read agent blogs
3. Send out queries and start interviewing

A short list but lots of work. I’ve begun steps one and two; if you’re interested, my list of agent blogs is now posted in the sidebar of this site. (I’ve also added all of these blogs into my public Google Reader feed if you’d like to check them out there.)

What do you look for in an agent? I’m still coming up with my list (see step 1 above), but so far I know I’d like to find an agent:

• techie enough to accept email queries
• with a sense of humor
• who’s driven and professional
• with high standards and high expectations
• and flexible enough to grow with me over time as I develop my career