MarthaOConnor
01-10-2005, 08:53 AM
Hi everyone,
I just registered and this is my first post, so please be gentle.:rolleyes
My first novel, THE BITCH POSSE, is coming out with St. Martin's Press in May of 2005. This has been a bit of a tortuous road for me--I've been writing for a number of years, with poetry and freelance articles published here and there. I've worked as a professional editor and took my business freelance for awhile while keeping my nose down and working steadily on my own work. Now I'm fortunate enough to be able to write full time, thanks to the advance I received for this novel.
THE BITCH POSSE is actually the fifth book I've written. The first three were "practice" novels. They're safe in a drawer now where they can't harm anyone. The fourth, a mystery, gained me an AAR agent. She submitted it all over New York and we received a number of lovely rejections, but no sale.
So I began writing something new. Something different--it compelled me and haunted me, and while I was writing it, I did little other than eat, sleep, and write. I showed the first fifty pages to my agent--and she HATED it! She had a negative visceral reaction to it. (Since that time I've learned that my novel often provokes visceral reactions--fortunately, most of them are positive!) Anyway, she told me to stop writing it and to work on something else. But I COULDN'T stop writing it. So I broke ties with her and finished the novel on my own.
I sent out a round of e-queries and landed a new agent within two weeks. I had four agent offers, but the agent with whom I signed took a good deal of time with me making editorial suggestions. Her ideas and mine improved the draft immensely. When we finally did put it up for submission, it sold in six days, at auction, with four publishers bidding for the rights.
I never, NEVER in a million years thought my story would end up that way. But I'm SO thrilled. British, Australian, and Dutch rights have sold too. The Brits are using the title THE BITCH GODDESS NOTEBOOK and the Dutch are calling it DE BITCH POSSE.
So now I'm gnawing my fingernails until May... The book is coming out in all three places at the same time.
I was put onto Absolute Write by a fellow writer. Looks like a wonderful, vibrant community. And I see some familiar and friendly names... Dave Kuzminski, Victoria Strauss... Clearly I'm in a very professional forum! I hope to participate more in the coming days and weeks.
I'll be putting up a REAL website in a few months (once cover art is finalized), but for now my musings can be found at the blog linked in my signature (assuming I did that signature thing correctly). Forgive me, my blog's a bit bland right now. A friend's going to help me customize the template a bit more, and my real site will include a bio, better photos, excerpts, etc.
Whew! That was a mouthful. I'd better shut up now. Take care!
I just registered and this is my first post, so please be gentle.:rolleyes
My first novel, THE BITCH POSSE, is coming out with St. Martin's Press in May of 2005. This has been a bit of a tortuous road for me--I've been writing for a number of years, with poetry and freelance articles published here and there. I've worked as a professional editor and took my business freelance for awhile while keeping my nose down and working steadily on my own work. Now I'm fortunate enough to be able to write full time, thanks to the advance I received for this novel.
THE BITCH POSSE is actually the fifth book I've written. The first three were "practice" novels. They're safe in a drawer now where they can't harm anyone. The fourth, a mystery, gained me an AAR agent. She submitted it all over New York and we received a number of lovely rejections, but no sale.
So I began writing something new. Something different--it compelled me and haunted me, and while I was writing it, I did little other than eat, sleep, and write. I showed the first fifty pages to my agent--and she HATED it! She had a negative visceral reaction to it. (Since that time I've learned that my novel often provokes visceral reactions--fortunately, most of them are positive!) Anyway, she told me to stop writing it and to work on something else. But I COULDN'T stop writing it. So I broke ties with her and finished the novel on my own.
I sent out a round of e-queries and landed a new agent within two weeks. I had four agent offers, but the agent with whom I signed took a good deal of time with me making editorial suggestions. Her ideas and mine improved the draft immensely. When we finally did put it up for submission, it sold in six days, at auction, with four publishers bidding for the rights.
I never, NEVER in a million years thought my story would end up that way. But I'm SO thrilled. British, Australian, and Dutch rights have sold too. The Brits are using the title THE BITCH GODDESS NOTEBOOK and the Dutch are calling it DE BITCH POSSE.
So now I'm gnawing my fingernails until May... The book is coming out in all three places at the same time.
I was put onto Absolute Write by a fellow writer. Looks like a wonderful, vibrant community. And I see some familiar and friendly names... Dave Kuzminski, Victoria Strauss... Clearly I'm in a very professional forum! I hope to participate more in the coming days and weeks.
I'll be putting up a REAL website in a few months (once cover art is finalized), but for now my musings can be found at the blog linked in my signature (assuming I did that signature thing correctly). Forgive me, my blog's a bit bland right now. A friend's going to help me customize the template a bit more, and my real site will include a bio, better photos, excerpts, etc.
Whew! That was a mouthful. I'd better shut up now. Take care!