Awesome News!

Just a quick update, but for those of you who haven't heard yet, I will be joining the... well, awesome bloggers of Operation Awesome as a new member of their team! You can catch my first post there this Friday, February 8th, but in the meantime, do check out all the amazing posts over there, if you haven't already. Operation Awesome was a huge help to me during my agent hunt, and I hope I can be just as helpful to all the newcomers!

Please Allow Me to Re-Introduce Myself!

Good morning, all! Just saw this awesome-looking blogfest going around, and thought I would dive in myself. I'm always getting awesome new people around here, and I don't always get a chance to properly meet all of you.

So, hi! My name is Rebecca Mahoney, but the only people who call me Rebecca are the ones who don't listen when I say "please call me Becky." So please, call me Becky. :) I am almost 25 years old, and I've been writing for almost all those years. Most of what I write is YA, generally of the fantasy, horror, or mystery persuasion, but I will dabble in anything that grabs my attention. I am represented by Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger, Inc.

Some fun facts about me:

- I am originally from the Boston area (er, Southern New Hampshire, really), and I currently live in DC. It's a strange, strange city, but its quirks have somehow grown on me. Nevertheless, my level of New England pride borders on obscene most days.

- By day, I work as an admin coordinator, which is a fancy way of saying that I spend most of my day trying to keep that throbbing vein in my forehead in check.

- I am proficient in Japanese, but my real second language is sarcasm. I am also fully conversant in silliness.

- I love: food, accessories, marathoning really well-written TV shows, marathoning really hilariously bad movies (preferably with friends), champagne, new recipes, buying more tea than I can possibly drink, adding excessive amounts of hyperbole to rather everyday routines, and of course, reading amazing books.

- I don't love: rude people, DC public transportation, being chased by bears. Terrible things, all.


I am also opening today up as an Open Question Day. If there's anything you've wondered about me (within reason), please do ask!

Sidekick Love

Pictured above: Actual flawless human being John Watson.

(I found that .gif on Life in Publishing, where you should spend your Friday afternoon today if you like laughter.)

I am deeply in love with all things Sherlock Holmes. My bookshelf prominently displays that giant compendium of all the stories, which could probably kill a man if I threw it fast enough. I also not only have Holmes-inspired blends of tea (mmm, earl grey with hazlenut and caramel), I also have Holmes-inspired perfume oils. I wouldn't call myself an all-knowing superfan by any means, but we are approaching serious geekery levels over here. Arthur Conan Doyle is my hero, even though he totally forever bitter that his Serious Fiction didn't get as much attention.

But anyway. Like most fans, I have been slowly working my way through all those adaptations, pastiches, homages, and Doyle estate-approved fanfics that are out in the world today. And I'm not actually very picky! As long as its own merits are strong, I don't care if it's particularly faithful to the original stories. The basic idea if the brilliantly observant social maladjust genius is so prevalent, especially on TV today, that you can go at it many ways.

The way Holmes and his multitudes of TV clones are written and played is a dealbreaker, especially since it's easy for writers to veer overenthusiastically in one direction or another. But lately, I find that even if the central character is brilliantly done, I can't get behind an adaptation without a great Watson.

John Watson might be one of my favorite characters ever: a good, honest, ordinary person who somehow catches the attention of this larger than life personality, and as the stories go on, the narrative shows us exactly why he is worthy of Holmes' (and our) notice. Not to mention he's a total badass, as well as the POV character of the entire series. There's so much you can do with that character type.

And plenty of adaptations have completely effed that part up. Adaptations and Holmes-inspired fiction lately has generally been a lot better about that, but others write the sidekick character as a complete non-entity, there to emphasize the brilliance of the protagonist.

No matter what the genre is, the development of the best friends and sidekicks is vital to how much I enjoy a piece of fiction. If he or she exists purely for the protagonist to bounce off of and then ignore when the love interest comes along, it kind of makes the protagonist seem like a bit of a sociopath. Who you choose to associate with says a great deal about you as a person, so what does it say about the protagonist if he or she spends so much time with a blank slate? When you leave a best friend underdeveloped, you leave the protagonist underdeveloped, and you miss out on having a potentially great character and a really interesting relationship.

So in conclusion, remember to love your sidekicks. They will love you back!

(This post is brought to you by my WIP, in which I took a Watson character type and made her the protagonist of the whole damn story. I'm telling you: serious levels of geekery going on here.)

Ready, Set, Sub!

Hello, loves, and welcome to my first post of 2013! It promises to be a very, very exciting year, with lots of great changes to come – you’ll see some announcements around these parts before long!

But first, something I must get off my chest...

~I'M GOING ON SUB~

(Y'all know you missed the multi-colored text. It is not a celebration without it.)

It's an interesting little in-between world I've stepped into, leaving the agent-hunt behind. It was easy to give into querying despair, especially toward the end there, but for the first time since early 2010, everything is new again. I can remember what it felt like to be at my college roommate's house during our February break, sending my first query in the midst of one of those classic New England snowstorms. I remember trailing after my friend during our shopping trip, checking my e-mail every two minutes, and hearing her remind me, very nicely, that it was a Sunday.

Granted, I am a little more jaded than 2010 Becky. I can (and will) still dream about a quick and wildly successful sub process, but I know now that these things can take time. Sometimes lots and lots of time.

So in learning to navigate this world, I'm keeping one eye on what is and the other on what might be. I'm going to start working in overdrive to balance the progress of my WIP with the needs of my day job, with the optimism that I will get the opportunity to tip that balance in favor of the former before long. I'm going to make time for things that make me happy and enrich my writing, like reading amazing books, seeing the sunlight on occasion, and working on my mindblowingly awesome just-for-fun cowriting project with my friend. (I highly, highly recommend the latter, by the way. It's like improv with plot outlines!) And I also want to make time to just think, reflect, and just exist in the world for a while, without anxiety gnawing at the back of my skull. I think that might be more helpful to my writing process than anything.

My only resolution for 2013 is to be brave, whatever that means in any given situation. And for this situation, it means that I'm going to tackle the next step head on and try to enjoy the ride. And wherever it takes me, I look forward to it.

Happy New Year, and I wish you all the luck in the world on your publishing journeys. I can't wait to see where you end up, too!

And so it begins - HOW I GOT MY AGENT

Let's take a moment to just stare at the title of my post.

*STARES* O_O

All right now. Here we go:

For the majority of this year, I spent most of my time staring at my inbox waiting for the e-mail that would change my life. Most of you know how that story ended. And in the month since I posted about the way my R&R ended, I amassed a good handful of crushing rejections from agents and contests alike. And somewhere toward the end, I resigned myself to the fact that my two years of hard work writing and revising, this MS might not go anywhere, and that even if that happened, it would be okay. I decided to work even harder on my WIP to get it query-ready by next summer.

And then last Tuesday came along. I was home sick with the immortal sinus infection from hell, and in the middle of a work week so intense that when I thought about everything I needed to do, I'd involuntarily groan "Oh God" out loud. I was in bed with a cup of tea, focused on something else besides my writing career for once, when the e-mail showed up in my inbox. "Re: Requested materials: [manuscript]."

I didn't have time to do the usual pre-rejection ritual, where I circle the room a few times psyching myself up before I open the e-mail, before the auto-preview popped up: "Rebecca! I missed my stop last night because of [protagonist]."

"Oh wow," I said, "it's a really nice rejection!"

I had to read the e-mail at least three times before "I am certain that I am the best agent for you" sank in.

Yep. After three years of waiting and working and tears, I got an offer of representation on November 27th, 2012. And it completely blindsided me.

And the day after that, after I got home from work, my phone rang, and the second offer blindsided me even more.

I've blogged here about the value of being a pessimist when it comes to the submission process, but there is one downside! When more than one lovely, talented, amazing agent is passionate about your work, you are so not prepared for it. I dreamed about things like this, where I had more than one dream agent to choose from, but I never thought they would actually HAPPEN. So this weekend, I entered the Decision Bunker (capitalized for dramatic emphasis), and thought about it.

And thought about it.

And thought about it some more.

And watched a lot of Lord of the Rings and ordered a lot of takeout.

And this morning, after lots of agonizing and making lists and rending garments, I came to my decision, and I finally signed that contract. So I can officially say to all of you that I am represented by the fantastic, the incredible, the wonderful Sara Crowe of the Harvey Klinger Agency.

I can't think of anything else to say, because I am still so thoroughly stunned and happy and grateful for this opportunity to take the next step with such a perfect partner. I am so excited to work with Sara and I can't wait to see what the future holds. I will be going on submission next year, and I know I wouldn't have gotten this far without such an amazing group of writers in my corner. Thank you, thank you, thank you all so much!!

Dear Teen Me

Hey all! Nothing much out of me today, but you should all go read Erin's Dear Teen Me bloghop post and watch her amazing video, with cameo appearances from my face, my prom dress, and my terrible handwriting.

Check it out here!

Starting over

Important lesson: life isn't fiction. Just because something looks nice on paper, just because it'd be such a perfect, symmetrical ending to a very long story, just because you've paid your dues and it's your turn to celebrate - that doesn't necessarily mean that thing will happen.

For example, it would be fitting if, after a year and a half of revising, I ended up signing with the first agent ever to request a manuscript from me - albeit a different manuscript, one sent over two years ago - but that did not happen.

Yes, this is to say that Secret Agent Man was not able to take me on due to time constraints. He passed it on to a colleague, but said colleague sent a rejection last week. That door may open again in the future, but right now, I am in full agent-hunting mode.
It's a complicated feeling, and I debated whether I wanted to post about it here, in part because I do like to present myself as this sort of Zen-ish aspiring author who just lets the rejections roll right off of her. But my journey thus far has been long, twisty, and rather unique, and it has always helped me throughout this process to read accounts by people who have been through the same things.

So yes, it's complicated. I have a shiny, revised MS that no one but Secret Agent Man (and his colleague) have seen, and I have already been in contact with some fantastic people who requested material, not to mention a referral and some other outstanding queries. I am pretty much starting over again, which is exciting, too.

But it's sad. Of course it's sad. I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about when I say this, but being an ambitious person who hasn't achieved her dream yet comes with a special kind of ache. Some days it's not too bad, and sometimes it creeps up on me every time I pick up a book. It can be really hard to shake on those days, when the voice in your head reminds you that you haven't made it yet.

And yet! If I may act the part of the Zen-ish aspiring author for a moment: I believe nothing is wasted. I could never regret this past year and a half. My writing is better for it, I got to work with some amazing people, and I got a taste of what it's like on the other side. Maybe someone else will love this manuscript enough to take it on, but if not, I am a little over halfway through my WIP as of today, so I can try again. I am very, very good at trying again.

And hopefully one of these days, I will get to write that 'my success story' post that has always been on the tips of my fingers. Although that post may well be very different than the one I have drafted in my head.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and whichever part of the process you're in, best of luck to you.