Here we are ready to jump into the fall season.  The days are no longer hot and humid in Savannah, the air has a hint of coolness, and the tides have been drifting in unusually high the past few days.   I know I promised to report on my marketing progress for TESSA AND CLAUDINE my novel in progress.  Since my last post, I have stopped calling it a completed novel.  

                Let me explain.  I was busy working on query letters, and yes even sent one to this nice young man at Curtis Brown Ltd. who invited me to send a query when I attended the San Franciso Writer’s Conference (a great conference, by the way).  I sent it to him via e-mail, and he wrote back  — a nice note saying my work was really not the type of work he’s now representing.  So, what I have to report is that I have started my pile of rejections.

                   And back to my novel-in-progress situation.  I  read an interview with Anne Tyler and she suggested, after completing a novel, the author should pick it up and read it like any reader would. I did that, and the truth is the opening seemed too slow, so I decided to rework  the beginning –add more action.  Before I contact another agent, I intend to make myself a happy reader. 

                Do any  of you other writers have any tips to pass along for that final test of your own writing? 

Until next time, Lisbeth 

PS:  I always like to tell you what I am reading. Right now I am 90% done with Pat Conroy’s South of Broad.   Conroy never ceases to amaze me with his command of the written word.  I heard Pat him speak in Savannah a few months ago.   He’s quite the interesting speaker, too.