Getting close to submission time

Today I had the distinct and totally awesome pleasure of meeting my literary agent, Sara Megibow of the Nelson Literary Agency, in person for the first time. She’s an absolute joy, and our lunch merely confirmed that I made a great choice in querying her agency. Not only does she know her stuff, but she’s a genuine, utterly wonderful person. I totally get why her other authors are so proud to be on Team Megibow.

We had a great lunch, and Sara gave me and my wife a lot of insight into why she chose to represent Spacebuckler and how the submission process will shake out.

Submissions. To actual publishers.

I’m normally far from neurotic when it comes to my writing. I’ve been torn apart by some of the most ornery editors working in journalism. (If you’re reading this and you’re one of those aforementioned editors, of course I’m not talking about you.) Still, talking about submissions is something else. Sure, I went through the rejection process when I queried literary agents. But this is it. If a publisher agrees to take this on, then it’s going to be in bookstores and on e-readers some day.

Yeah, I know there’s a lot more work ahead beyond that agreement. I’ll have an editor, and they’ll want more revisions. I’m going to have to further my blogging and tweeting, and I’m going to have to market my book, and myself to a degree. It’ll probably be 2013 before the book comes out.

But right now, it’s all about that submissions hurdle. It’s incredibly exciting, and perhaps just a bit nerve-wracking. I’m just glad I got a great agent in my corner!

On another note, my conversation with Sara reminded me of an article I did, way back in the day, when I was a business writer with The Associated Press in Seattle. If an article tying role-playing games and open-source software — complete with quotes from Steve Jackson and the late, great Gary Gygax — doesn’t totally establish my geek cred, nothing will. Read and enjoy.