If you accept representation from an agent, you generally let everyone else you queried know, but it's no big deal. And honestly, that response time is often par for the course.

Any thoughts about this livejournal post? [link]

I have bad eyes and a crappy computer, so that post is unreadable to me.

I know that person, so it's hard to say. But there does seem to be a fair bit of "Shouldn't I have succeeded by now?" in there. A feeling I know well at 51, combined with "It's not like I have a lot of time left to do this". Though Grandma Moses is an inspiration.

Sorry, didn't mean to make it sound like it wasn't my post. Because it totally is...I just don't know how to summarize my writer-development type questions. I'd love to, you know, do the MFA thing, but nobody is going to pay, and to do that, you have to test, and be invited in, and all that. But I'd love to work with people who take craft that seriously...at the risk of sounding arrogant, I've outdistanced the technique advice I can afford. I've read Steven king bitching about all the TV kids watch today and telling me to read and write a thousand words every day(500 is still about the best I can do--no "Stand" for me, I suppose.It's okay, didn't even finish reading that one.) Connie, yeah, you're right, although it's not really about being a big star so much as feeling...unfinished. Like my novels, and my scripts, and whatever. I'm embarrassed about being the Rough Draft Queen.

I'm not sure an MFA would do you any good. I'm not sure it does anyone any good. The type of writing encouraged is generally very specific and very literary and not necessarily commercial.

I think what you need to do is keep at it, if you're serious. Finish the rough drafts, then edit them and revise. Or pay a developmental editor to give you a read and make editorial suggestions.

Well, if I were made of money, I might do it anyway. But, given that I'm way not(and probably carrying some misplaced, say, Mr. Miyagi fantasy into it) that's good to know. I mean, I guess I have shop-talk with y'all, and I don't have to go into hock for it..well, except for broadband, or whatever.

Oh, lord, the unfinished stuff. The great ideas that I stare apathetically at. The stories I re-read that are good that I just don't bother to finish. There are people out there who *want* me to finish things, but . . .

As for technique advice, I've read lots of books, and I finally got to the place where I think the most helpful thing is if I like it when I read it. If my brain catches on it, something's wrong. Fixing it, now . . . Fortunately most times the fix is obvious--a different word order, something like that. But sometimes it's not. sometimes it just needs to be completely redone.

I hate that I look at the screen and the endless enthusiasm for writing seems to be gone. Maybe I need to go back to a pen and a notebook, but my hands aren't up to it anymore.

It sometimes seems like I worry about my writing more than I do about my marriage. But comparatively, the marriage is easier.

Hey I wonder if anyone could take a look at something for me? Unfinished but ...

At this point I'm wondering if I'm rushing it. That is I know how the thing ends and so I'm advancing the narrative to that end. But I wonder if I'm not stopping to share enough of the world I built or explore the characters enough. On the other hand there are already some pretty good glimpses of the world and of the characters, so maybe my pace is good, and I'm just not unnecessarily padding it. I could really use feedback on that one point, though any other feedback is welcome too. Note that at this point the work is unproofread, so I'm sure there are howlers here and there.

The working title is "Deadlands". Penny struggles to survive in a world that has been transformed by the discovery that ghosts are not only real but can be materialized, controlled and enslaved. It is a bizarre world in which the the rich thrive while less and less is left for everybody else - completely unlike our own.

I'll take a look at it, Typo. It wouldn't be real fast right now, though, as I'm a bit loaded up.