Melanie and the bad case of 'sniping'
I have been following the posts on this board for a couple of months...beginning with my partner's initial discovery of this site in our efforts to discover more about our agent, Melanie Mills. During this time, I have been, in turns, disgusted, frustrated, angry and sometimes amused, by the information I've read concerning Melanie and the rest of us--our shared foibles.
I have found, over the years, that trust is tenuous, at best, and finding someone you trust completely is a joy we all strive to embrace.
I have a point here.
This experience with Melanie was, for me, a revelation. She taught me many things in the two years she was representing myself and my partner...things that, at times, were helpful. Before she became our agent, we knew very little about the writing industry, a lack of knowledge that would eventually be the tool she used to teach us the best lesson of all.
Do your homework!!
Research every aspect of any endeavor you choose to undertake...from the book's inception, to its delivery into the hands of a publisher. That includes sussing out any and all information available about your agent, editor, publisher.
I find this lesson invaluable. Some people may choose to view this experience with Melanie as a setback, or worse, a catastrophe. Believe me when I tell you, you do yourself a disservice, and by so doing, give her actions power and significance.
You let her win.
I for one, refuse to cow down to the inferiority that spurs this mindset. I will view this experience as one of discovery and a lesson well learned.
IF Melanie is alive and following our discussions on this site, then she has found her reason for the bad choices she's made and the lives she's disrupted. With our words of distress, she has found the soil with which to plant her seeds of dissention. Instead of using our gift with words to show her the error of her ways, we've given her ammunition with which to keep her lack of moral fiber fully loaded.
If she has passed on, then we have done naught more than to curse that which can no longer defend itself.
Still, I have to wonder to what end these discussions hope to meet...a satisfactory conclusion to a story that has been nothing more than convoluted conjecture and, to use the words of another writer, 'sniping'?
So, before you click on the reply button, think about what you want to say...what message you want those of us who hang on your every word, wish to hear.
I'm waiting.