{"id":69,"date":"2009-05-03T22:07:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-04T03:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chloeneill.com\/?p=69"},"modified":"2009-05-03T22:07:00","modified_gmt":"2009-05-04T03:07:00","slug":"guest-blog-lucienne-diver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/?p=69","title":{"rendered":"Guest Blog: Lucienne Diver"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve asked newly-released author Lucienne Diver<\/a> to give us some thoughts on moving from literary agent<\/a> to published author. \u00a0The author of VAMPED<\/a> give us some insights . . . Take it away, Lucienne!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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* * * *\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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\n

The Stages of Disbelief \u2013 from Submission to Publication<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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This probably differs for every author, but I can tell you that for me, the stages from submission to publication were something like the stages of grief, only in a good way, if that makes any sense.\u00a0 The established Kubler-Ross stages of grief are Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance (DABDA).\u00a0 I\u2019ll call mine EDFIA (Elation, Disbelief, Frenetic Activity, Insecurity, and Excitement):<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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Elation:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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I got the call from my agent (yes, I have an agent who isn\u2019t me to handle my career so that during business hours I can focus on my clients) while I was in the airport waiting for a plane.\u00a0 I wanted to do a happy dance and hug total strangers, but since I didn\u2019t want to get carted off by security, I had to settle for calling everyone in my cell phone directory.\u00a0 Everyone.\u00a0 Twice. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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Disbelief:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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I was half convinced that something would mess up the deal or that the publisher would come to their senses and decide that they must have been loopy the day they decided to offer me a contract.\u00a0 This despite the fact that I\u2019ve done numerous deals as an agent and not one has ever fallen through once the offer was accepted.\u00a0 The writerly imagination is your greatest enemy until the ink is dry on the contract and the signing advance is in your hot little hands.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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Frenetic\u00a0 Activity:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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This is how my sale went:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

-my agent submitted the entire manuscript for VAMPED<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

-the editor really liked the voice but had comments on the plot; my agent put us in touch so that I could hear what he had to say, which I thought was dead on<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

-I revised the first three chapters and synopsis based on the comments<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

-we sent that back to the editor and he loved it, convinced others to love it (possibly there was arm twisting involved; I\u2019d have gladly sent chocolate) and bought it<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

-my agent did her agently duties \u2013 finalizing details, haggling out contract language<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

-I got busy revising the entire rest of the manuscript and, when finished, sent it off to the editor<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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Insecurity:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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After you turn in your manuscript to the editor you wait for awhile, biting your nails while you wait for feedback.\u00a0 Will he like it?\u00a0 Did I get it right?\u00a0 How much did I get wrong?\u00a0 Then the edits come back.\u00a0 There\u2019s a moment of panic, of <\/span><\/span>OMG, if I knew how to accomplish that I\u2019d have gotten it right on the first pass<\/span><\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 There might be barbecue potato chips.\u00a0 Maybe a chocolate binge.\u00a0 Maybe even chocolate-covered potato chips.\u00a0 Okay, maybe not.\u00a0 Anyway, this too shall pass. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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Actually, I was really lucky.\u00a0 My editor was awesome.\u00a0 He not only indicated things he really liked, but when something needed work, he was Johnny-on-the-spot with suggestions for fixing.\u00a0 He really made the whole process pretty painless.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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Then, several months down the line, came notes from the continuity editor and then the copyedits.\u00a0 Two more diet-destroying panic attacks and the conviction that my work sucked (and not just because there were vampires involved) later, I washed my hands of the whole thing.\u00a0 Vamped was finished and put into production.\u00a0 There was nothing else to do but worry.\u00a0 (Truism: by the time your work sees publication, you\u2019ve read it so many times that you\u2019re heartily sick of it and convinced it\u2019s the worst piece of dreck ever to see print.)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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[Ed. Note: \u00a0This is so incredibly true. Revisions undoubtedly make the finished product better, but they are hell on an author…and her ego. ~ Chloe]<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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Excitement:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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It\u2019s all uphill from here.\u00a0 Oh, in the back of your mind is the little voice that worries over how the reviewers will like your novel, but you can beat it back with the sight of your very own too-wonderful-for-words cover!\u00a0 Or the glow of holding your galleys or the publisher\u2019s catalogue in your hands.\u00a0 Then the first review comes in and\u2026wait, they <\/span><\/span>don\u2019t<\/span><\/span><\/i> hate you.\u00a0 No one suggests that you should be flipping burgers or taking a long walk off a short pier.\u00a0 One might call your heroine annoying (hello, she\u2019s a fashionista convinced that Crocs and socks are a sign of the dissolution of our society\u2026not that they\u2019re not), but others love it.\u00a0 With exclamation points and emoticons. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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Yes, I\u2019ve seen my authors go through this process, and I\u2019ve sympathized and held their hands when necessary.\u00a0 But now I realize that I haven\u2019t known the half of it.\u00a0 If you think writing is hard, try sending your baby out into the world and letting it fend for itself.\u00a0 It\u2019s the most amazingly gratifying, horrifying, dizzying, wonderful feeling in the whole world.\u00a0 And I get to go through it all again in 2010 with REVAMPED.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve asked newly-released author Lucienne Diver to give us some thoughts on moving from literary agent to published author. \u00a0The author of VAMPED give us some insights . . . Take it away, Lucienne! * * * *\u00a0 The Stages of Disbelief \u2013 from Submission to Publication This probably differs for every author, but I[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[20,16],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-lucienne-diver","tag-vamped"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chloeneill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}