Years In The Making - How I Got My Agent

August was a life-changing month for me, on multiple fronts. But best of all, it saw the cumulation of years of hard work, dedication, highs and lows. I've always dreamed of the day I could write one of these posts.

I started writing at a very young age. Sent my first query when I was sixteen years old, for my first manuscript, a YA fantasy work. My younger self sent 100 queries, received 100 rejections over two years (warranted, I had no idea what I was doing). But quitting didn't seem like an option, and when I was 18, I self-published the series on Smashwords.

In college, I wrote my second manuscript. A fun project, in a genre outside of my norm. But the word count was too short for adult, and my lack of passion had me stopping at 20 query rejections, a six month querying journey.

After five long years of working on my profession (environmental engineer), I finally had some time to revisit my passion. I wrote an adult fantasy romance, my third manuscript. Did my research. Had professionals critique my pages and my query package. Out of about 60 queries, I received one full request. All ended in rejection. I shelved the project after five months in the trenches, which really hurt, because I thought I had finally learned all I needed to know, and that the book was perfect. NOPE. Some personalized feedback helped me understand I needed to work on my writing. All of it - the pacing, the voice, the plot, the characters. I kept at it, worked on some short stories, found some folklore I have a lot of passion for.

For my fourth manuscript, THE CURSE OF MILA GOJSALIĆ, I queried a total of 23 agents. Received 4 full requests. Two offers of representation. I spent a total of five weeks in the querying trenches. A stark difference to my other manuscripts, to my other query trench journeys. I signed with LCS Literary at the end of August.

As with everything in life, one milestone down, a dozen more to go. I'm so excited to work with my agent, Josh, and prepare for the submission trenches. If this post serves as a testament to anything, its perseverance. If young Kelly had known it would take four books, and ten years, and a lot of work to get to this milestone, she may have just dropped the pen and walked away. For every querying author out there, just know that you can take breaks, and start all over, and keep learning, but never give up on the pursuit altogether!