I suck at waiting. I am crazy impatient. Guess what you can’t be when you’re working towards being a published writer: impatient. I distinctly remember waiting to hear back from agents as being ridiculously agonizing? I had to stop my emails from getting pushed to my phone.
I didn’t know what to expect after I got an agent. I mean, where’s the backdoor guide to what happens between signing with an agent and getting published? I need that. Here’s what I imagined would happen:
Yup. My agent would roll out the red carpet that would lead to my publishing dreams. After all, I had made it! I had been noticed and plucked from the eager writer masses.
That’s not what happened at all. There are levels to this! It’s like a tiered claw machine. I am armed with stories, but I have to yet again get noticed and plucked from the (albeit smaller) masses. It’s a mental marathon.
So, no. Having an agent doesn’t mean that you have someone to roll out a red carpet that leads to your publication dreams. It does mean that you have an ally, an ally that helps you swing over alligator moats, bust through drawbridges, and kick down doors. Obviously, those things take time.
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