on being asked for the full manuscript

The original agent who asked for exclusive sight of my novel for two weeks turned me down. She ran to three weeks and, when I asked her for news, came back to me very quickly and said that my characters didn’t get under her skin; she had wanted them to develop along the lines of Mary Wesley’s characters. But…now another agent has requested the full manuscript and said that she has enjoyed my characters. It all goes to show how subjective is the process of assessing fiction.

Although being asked for your full manuscript doesn’t guarantee being published, it is very encouraging and shows that something about your writing must be doing the trick and getting you noticed.

Fingers crossed and watch this space!

community

boars hill

We went to Boars Hill today with Dennis,  setting out across the poet Matthew Arnold’s famous field, meandering through the woods with mud and mire underfoot, then down a ride by fields, a little stream to our right with a lion’s head pouring water from its stone mouth. There is no doubt that spring has arrived, though the cold, damp days of late have masked the fact. But I saw primroses and daffodils everywhere, along with the last of the snowdrops fading back and going brown.

We skirted the base of Jarn Mound. It’s some sort of folly built like a mini Silbury Hill with a moat at the bottom. From the top you can see over the crowns of the trees to the White Horse hills and beyond. There’s a plinth with a beautiful circular Tolkienesque map to show you where you are and what you can see from every one of the 360 degrees of viewpoint.  People keep stealing the map. I’d be tempted to purloin it myself if I could work out how to prise it loose – though I hope I’m honest enough not to. Anyway, we didn’t go up there today, instead weaving among the moss covered green boulders and the yew trees in the wood below and back out along the road, past large, expensive houses with names like Birchfield (not a birch tree in sight!).

Still no news from the literary agent.