A Novel Idea

In other blog posts, I’ve mentioned two friends who separately sent out queries to 100 literary agents.  I’m not suggesting that this number is the norm.  It’s possible, that on average, one has to send out forty queries before getting the nod… or, God forbid, 200.

The daunting 100 queries serve as a reality check.  I remind myself (and perhaps others here) of the need for perseverance, not to mention a sustained belief in one’s work.  Examples abound of highly acclaimed, bestselling books that initially received a dispiriting string of rejections.  I’m going out on a limb, too, and encouraging a trusting attitude that, regardless of the number, the timing for acceptance in each case is absolutely perfect.

Author Mike Dooley, in Infinite Possibilities, writes about periods when we play a waiting game — when, despite our best efforts, we keep hitting the proverbial brick wall.  He encourages us to have faith in these “lulls.”  In fact, he suggests that they support our goals and dreams in ways and for reasons we simply can’t imagine at the time.

“See these times as necessary reprieves that are allowing the Universe to shuffle around players and events of your life in order to make some of your dreams come true,” he writes, and adds,  “… most importantly, don’t dwell on the apparent lack of progress you may seem to be making.”  In other words, even though you can’t see it, doesn’t mean progress isn’t part of the equation.

Oddly enough, in the past week, on three occasions, friends brought up this notion of each of us always being in the right place, at the right time – even during periods when outward events make us feel stuck or downright sucky.  In such cases, only in retrospect does one recognize the good that has come because of the wait.

An example.  At a gathering last night, a woman talked about a two-year struggle to control the what-next in her life.   She did every proactive thing she could think of to leave a job she’d come to hate.  Multiple applications later, she still couldn’t nab another position.  She’d come close, say, as one of two final candidates; then the job would slip through her fingers.  She actually felt ambivalent about each lost “opportunity” because her dream was to become a life coach as well as a mentor and teacher for A Course in Miracles.

She thought about giving notice and pursuing her dream in earnest, but after her husband received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, they needed her salary more than ever.  One day she finally decided to entertain the possibility that there might be a perfect, if unimaginable, reason for not being able to move on.  She decided to view the Universe as benevolent, imagining herself consciously collaborating with it.  She didn’t give up.  She simply gave away some of the responsibility for achieving a degree of peace, and a happy ending.  She not only asked for, but expected help.

Near the end of her stay in Stuckville, she received amazing news from her boss.  A reconfiguration of company pay policies revealed that they owed her $22,000 for overtime hours she’d accrued.  Had she left the company two years earlier, she wouldn’t have earned the bonus that became a lifeline for her family.  What’s more, shortly after receiving the retroactive pay, she incurred a back injury while moving boxes of books. The herniated disc required that she go on disability for some months.  Now, while collecting her regular paycheck, she not only didn’t have to go to work, but she had time to explore her dream-path   Yes, dealing with the physical pain wasn’t fun, but the timing of her only-injury-ever provided one of the most wonderful opportunities of her life…. to explore a new career and, months later, to begin it.

Last Tuesday, I considered a request for my full manuscript a case of perfect timing.  It came one day before the stated five-week period the agency cites for responding to queries.  For four additional weeks, the literary agent gets exclusive dibs on reading my manuscript.  I’m not seeing this chunk of weeks as an interruption in the querying process, but as a perfect time frame for beginning a revision of a previous manuscript.

As for the outcome of this particular exchange, I intend to let go and behave as if the Universe has it covered.  Whether an offer of representation comes from this agent or, later, from another — I affirm that when it does, it will come from just the right place… at exactly the right time.