The Call

No, I have not received The Call yet.  Yes, there is one "The Call."  It means, the call you get when a literary agent is considering taking you on as a client.  Granted, from what I've been reading lately, it seems that very often before The Call is The Email, when an agent writes you an email saying they want to call you and when.  But anyway!  Just because I have not yet received The Email or The Call doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about it a lot.  I have.  I've researched and bookmarked lists of questions I should ask during The Call (because if you didn't prepare, you'd probably just be a blathering mess, right?).  I also daydream about The Call.  And read new authors' blog posts about The Call.  And I have to say, I do not think I will be having the reaction that some authors have had.  Which is vomiting after The Call or The Email.  Yeah, I don't see that happening.  Perhaps these authors are more prone to nerves than I am, but I am pretty sure The Call--if and when it does happen--will be followed with one of the following two: crying or screaming.  My default response to any big news (good or bad) is probably to cry.  And because this would be good news, there's a decent chance for a scream.  But a trip to the bathroom?  I don't think so.

Once I've calmed myself down enough to just get excited about it, I am going to play my "happy dance" song.  Basically, I've had this song picked out for this moment since I started querying my first novel (a project I later shelved sometime last year).  I will blast MGMT's "Kids" to as loud a volume as I can get away with, with an upstairs neighbor who is 90 and thus hard of hearing, so pretty loud.  I will also dance.

Anyone who knows me knows that I do not dance.  At least, not in seriousness.  I was known to perform a rather creepy jig after Red Sox won the World Series in 2007.  And I may or may not have performed a beard dance (this involves swaying side to side with an extra long beard, so not the most complicated of dances) a few times in the library, dressed as Dumbledore.  But in terms of real dancing or happy dancing?  I do not do these things.  Ordinarily.

Every time I listen to "Kids" though, I can see this moment, this future "happy dance" as if it already happened.  And it's one of my favorite songs ever--also, one of the happiest songs ever--so I've seen it a lot.

I guess for now it's a matter of waiting and hoping, and when that's not enough, sending out more queries.  So far, I've sent out 19 queries.  I've heard back from 7 agents, 5 of whom requested more materials.  Currently, I have 2 fulls and one partial out there.  The happy dance?  Pending.

For now, I guess I'll go back to reading the most excellent Jaclyn Moriarty's new book The Ghosts of Ashbury High and daydreaming.