So, how does this sound for an email to that agent that said the nice things to get more clarity on the first person issue?

Dear AgentName,

Thank you very much for the valuable input you provided on the partial I recently submitted of LUCY AND MR. WRIGHT. You mentioned that you weren't convinced about the first person narrative. Would you mind telling me if that was a craft issue or a marketing one? If the former, I'd want to review the voice and POV before my next round of submissions, but if the latter, I may just need to set this manuscript aside in hopes that someday first-person historical romances will come into vogue!

Thanks again for your consideration. I'm currently working on my second novel, which is also a Regency historical but is written in third person from both the hero's and heroine's POV and has a faster-paced, more action-oriented plot. Would you be open to considering it when it is complete?

Sincerely,
MyFullName

Susan, sounds like a nice basic request to me, on every level.

Thanks! Email has now been sent.

Wow. And already I get a response. She said it was a craft issue--she thought the use of first person was a little too modern, and she wasn't entirely won over by Lucy, so having her as the narrator didn't help.

So to me, that's a YMMV issue, and nothing to prevent me from re-submitting it elsewhere as soon as I've given it that pacing edit.

There, see? You can generally assume that, with a response as detailed as the original one she gave you, she liked it enough to have formed opinions and be willing to share them.

Woo and Hoo, Susan.

Wow. And already I get a response.

Way cool.

She said it was a craft issue--she thought the use of first person was a little too modern, and she wasn't entirely won over by Lucy, so having her as the narrator didn't help.

And reader, I married her!

I'm feeling pretty good, all things considered. I realize this particular manuscript may never sell. Of course I hope it does, and will continue to market it until I've run out of options, but I can already see from what little I've done on the next novel that it's going to be better-written. Just in my writing group last night, they asked if I'd taken the pacing comments I've gotten into account, and I said, "Not really--why?" And they said the new book is noticeably faster-paced, and tips you right into the action in the first few pages.

I still think Lucy is a very good book, and I'm by no means planning to shred it if I can't sell it. Maybe if I've already improved enough as a writer that my new work shows better mastery of pacing, in another year or three I'll be good enough to take Lucy apart and rebuild it without destroying its soul.

Lucy may also be a novel you can sell after you've sold a later one. Editors/agents may be more open to a slower-paced book when they know you have a track record.

I'm sad. A magazine that was going to print my work has gone on hiatus. Which is sad for a lot of people, not just me. But part of me feels like "Of course they are. Anyone interested in my work would." It has happened a lot. Maybe it is the dark cloud I bring with me wherever I go.(I know...it's really that the economy sucks. Why couldn't I have a useful talent, with numbers in it?