Some of the happiest posts I put on this blog are sharing writers' Getting the Call stories. Joy! Because today I can bring you the Call story of a lady who is always helpful and entertaining. We helped host Pitch Slam together and not long after, she was sharing her own happy news. A big congrats to Natasha Neagle!
Michelle, thank you for the opportunity to share my story
with your readers. Spoiler alert: Kermit flailing is involved.
In February of this year, I began drafting my second novel.
I needed something to do while my first novel, a YA Fantasy—in it’s third
rewrite—sat in the TBR pile of a handful of agents. I shifted gears and decided
to try my hand at a thriller. I found that while writing my fantasy, the scenes
that came the easiest were the ones packed with action. I knew from the start I
wanted the novel to be loaded with diversity. My main character is bisexual,
but this is anything but a coming out book. There are enough of them out there.
I also wanted to have a character in a wheelchair because they are lacking from
the bookshelves as well. He became one of my favorite characters to write.
By the beginning of April, my thriller was finished—the
fastest I’d ever completed a manuscript, and in the hands of my beloved CPs and
Beta team members. Edits were swift, the feedback was positive, and my query
was polished. With the help of Twitter and random conversation, I found agents
interested in my manuscript before I finished editing. I’d also had an agent
pass on my previous fantasy manuscript because she said it would be a hard sell
right now, but wanted to see the next thing I wrote. While this made me excited
to query, I was still terrified. Eventually, I worked up the courage to hit
send.
On and
off for the next two weeks, I received emails from interested agents.
Unfortunately, I also received rejections. Trying not to obsess over my inbox, I
decided to busy myself by plotting a new shiny thriller that wouldn’t leave me
alone (yay for persistent plot bunnies). I was excited to start working on my new
shiny idea when I received an email. I’d given Andrea Somberg at Harvey
Klinger, Inc the full manuscript around dinner time and thanks to my son (AKA
Evil Genius) sleepwalking into my bedroom at 1am, I did what most people with
queries out do: I checked my email.
And boy did I have an email. It was THE email.
Andrea said she was in love with my manuscript. She told me
she couldn’t put it down. She wanted to talk ASAP. I pinched myself because I
had to be dreaming. I checked the timestamp because I’d checked my email before
I went to bed. OMG, she had just sent it. It was 1am. Insert Kermit flailing at
full force and a squee that woke my cats, but not my husband.
I responded immediately. Do you have any idea how hard it is
to type and flail like a drunk muppet? Yeah, not easy! We set up a time to talk
during daylight hours, since I already had a call set up with another agent for
later that day. As if talking to one agent wasn’t nerve-wracking enough, I
planned to talk to two.
You read about how to react when you talk to an agent on the phone, and
how nervous you’ll probably be, but as strange as it sounds, I wasn’t. As soon
as I heard the excitement in Andrea’s voice, my nerves subsided. We talked
about my manuscript like it was a show on TV, and we were two friends
catching up. Her enthusiasm for my characters and the novel
left me speechless. I might have said once or twice that I loved her for
saying those things. Her vision of where she wanted to take the manuscript in
terms of publishing and her response to all the plot twists I had in store gave
me that warm and fuzzy feeling–she was the one.
Everyone should have an agent that fangirl’s over their
writing. I never thought I’d find one to do that for me, but I did. With my
fantasy novel, I almost gave up on writing. Instead, I turned it into a
learning experience.
Now, that I’ve found my person, I’m going to be a Pitch Wars mentor, hoping to
help someone find their agent.
Natasha Neagle writes diverse YA thrillers
about characters with more guts than her. She considers herself a diehard
fictional character shipper and has way too much fun shopping for makeup and
shoes. She is a firm believer that the best way to hear music is live, and can
always be found on Twitter, especially if Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead
is on. Natasha lives in Northern Virginia with her superhero husband, two crazy-smart
kids, and their demon-possessed cats.
My
links:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/agirlnamendat
Website: http://www.natashneagle.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/agirlnamednat
Thank you for hosting me on your site Michelle. I love reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteSo exciting to read this post, Nat! You've worked hard for this. All the best with your MS (and the plot bunny).
ReplyDeleteAhhh congratulations again, Natasha! I love reading The Call posts, especially when it's from someone I know from Twitter. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, your book sounds fabulous. I look forward to reading it one day!
As one of your CP's, I applaud this so much!!!! *inserts clapping* Although I didn't get to CP/beta this novel, I've seen other work and you rock! So happy for you. Here's hoping the book sells soon! Congrats again!!!!
ReplyDeleteYay! Congratulations, fellow Stray Tat Strutter.
ReplyDeleteWoo! Congrats!!!
ReplyDeleteI love these posts. They give me hope :D