I finished my novel earlier this summer, and went through (most) of the appropriate steps before querying. I finished it, let it sit for a month, went back and rewrote, added some parts, deleted some parts, then edited again at the sentence level. Then, I got really, really excited and compiled a list of agents to query IN THE FUTURE when I was ready. I was not ready.
Well, then I apparently went a little crazy. I had a really bad day, and to give myself a little "pick me up" I decided to send out ONE query. I ended up sending two. As expected, I got a rejection right away from one, but to my delight/horror, a few days later I got a request for a FULL from the other! I was ready to send a partial, but a full? Of course I jumped around my living room in excitement, all the while screaming, "No one but ME has read it! What did I DO?"
So, what I did was pull an all-nighter. For some reason, even though I felt the novel was good enough to query, I was compelled to go over the whole thing one more time. I worked on it from 5 pm to 4 am. I didn't want the agent to think I had done something as stupid as I did, like prematurely querying, so I didn't want to wait long before sending it to her. In retrospect, I'm sure a day delay wouldn't have hurt me.
Anyway, now here we are. The agent has had it for about 3 weeks. Meanwhile, I've had a few beta readers get a hold of it. OF COURSE what I've discovered is that my editing skills at 4 am STINK. There's grammar mistakes all over the thing! Most of them appearing after page 50 or so (the beginning has been gone over more times). I'm mortified.
So now what? In addition to pointing out my hideous grammar (And I'm supposed to be an English grad student - I called a deer a "dear" for crying out loud!), my friend also noted an anachronism, which I've since taken out. What would you do? According to Miss Snark, resending a manuscript with a "this has been revised" note is a huge inconvenience, but she was also speaking of paper manuscripts, and this is all via email. Still, I don't want the agent to think (know) I sent a not-prepared draft. At the same time, I don't want to be rejected on the basis of crappy copyediting. (It's not like, on every page, but I'd say there's at least 2-5 mistakes per chapter towards the end. I got worse with editing as the night went on.)
Should I resend the manuscript with a note saying, "If it's not too much of an inconvenience, I wanted you to have the revised draft," or something to that effect? Or should I just wait and pray that the agent is forgiving of my mistakes in lieu of good writing and plot? What's going to hurt me more?
I'm willing to acknowledge I probably screwed this up and will take the lesson and apply it in the future, but I would love to work with this agent, so I'm trying to salvage this situation if I can.
Thanks!
Well, then I apparently went a little crazy. I had a really bad day, and to give myself a little "pick me up" I decided to send out ONE query. I ended up sending two. As expected, I got a rejection right away from one, but to my delight/horror, a few days later I got a request for a FULL from the other! I was ready to send a partial, but a full? Of course I jumped around my living room in excitement, all the while screaming, "No one but ME has read it! What did I DO?"
So, what I did was pull an all-nighter. For some reason, even though I felt the novel was good enough to query, I was compelled to go over the whole thing one more time. I worked on it from 5 pm to 4 am. I didn't want the agent to think I had done something as stupid as I did, like prematurely querying, so I didn't want to wait long before sending it to her. In retrospect, I'm sure a day delay wouldn't have hurt me.
Anyway, now here we are. The agent has had it for about 3 weeks. Meanwhile, I've had a few beta readers get a hold of it. OF COURSE what I've discovered is that my editing skills at 4 am STINK. There's grammar mistakes all over the thing! Most of them appearing after page 50 or so (the beginning has been gone over more times). I'm mortified.
So now what? In addition to pointing out my hideous grammar (And I'm supposed to be an English grad student - I called a deer a "dear" for crying out loud!), my friend also noted an anachronism, which I've since taken out. What would you do? According to Miss Snark, resending a manuscript with a "this has been revised" note is a huge inconvenience, but she was also speaking of paper manuscripts, and this is all via email. Still, I don't want the agent to think (know) I sent a not-prepared draft. At the same time, I don't want to be rejected on the basis of crappy copyediting. (It's not like, on every page, but I'd say there's at least 2-5 mistakes per chapter towards the end. I got worse with editing as the night went on.)
Should I resend the manuscript with a note saying, "If it's not too much of an inconvenience, I wanted you to have the revised draft," or something to that effect? Or should I just wait and pray that the agent is forgiving of my mistakes in lieu of good writing and plot? What's going to hurt me more?
I'm willing to acknowledge I probably screwed this up and will take the lesson and apply it in the future, but I would love to work with this agent, so I'm trying to salvage this situation if I can.
Thanks!
