Maya Angelou, A Phenomenal Woman

Maya Angelou was a true Renaissance woman: writer, singer, dancer, director, civil rights activist. But for me, she'll always be first and foremost a poet. A sample from one of my favorites:

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I'll miss her grace, her joie de vivre, her laugh. And be thankful for the gifts she left behind.

***

Phenomenal Woman excerpt from: THE COMPLETE COLLECTED POEMS OF MAYA ANGELOU, Random House, 1st edition (September 13, 1994).

Six Sites to Find Agents Who Rep PB, MG, YA

Image by David Castillo Dominici, FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Though I initially planned to self-publish JURATA'S DAUGHTER, my editor convinced me to give querying a try first. She loves the book and thinks others will, too. Sure hope so.

Here's a list of sites I'm using to research agents and pubishers. If you know of others, please share. Thanks.

#MSWL - This is a Twitter feed where agents and editors post their "Manuscript Wish List". I recently saw one agent who specifically mentioned Slavic mythology--she's high on my list. You can fine tune this according to genre, such as #MSWL Fantasy, or #MSWL Young Adult, etc. Just remember, you don't pitch on Twitter unless they're having a special pitch day, like #PitMad. Send a normal query instead.

QUERY TRACKER - Search for agents/agencies that rep your genre, keep track of those you've contacted and their responses, store your query letter. A paid membership ($25) allows you to see what any agent has actually requested from queries, a big help if their site says, for example, they accept YA but all they've looked at is MG.

ABSOLUTE WRITE WATER COOLER - Search by agent, or check out these special sections: Bewares, Recommendations & Background Check; Ask the Agent; Ask the Editor. There's even a board for sharing your work, but you'll need to set up an account [free!] first. Post your query here and be ready for honest feedback. 

AGENTQUERY CONNECT -  Find an agent or editor, get your query critiqued, and much, much more.

LITERARY RAMBLES - Check out the "Agent Spotlight" here for current and past interviews.

ALEXA DONNE, YA AUTHOR - Alexa has some recent interviews with agents that are definitely worth a look.

Of course, any research will include going to the agent's site and looking up sales on Publishers' Marketplace. I hope this list helps.

Cheers!

Indie Recon is Coming!

Mark your calendars for 2014's Indie Recon, the conference for independent writers. It's coming next week, February 25-27.

It looks like another year full of great presenters, including JA Konrath and Susan Kaye Quinn, and a wide range of topics, from writing serials to marketing on Goodreads.

Hope you can make it!

To view the schedule, go to:
http://www.indierecon.org/p/schedule.html