Well, word from the agent is in, and it isn’t what I was hoping for – but after four months, what did I expect? Earlier today I got an e-mail back from Robert Guinsler, the agent at Sterling-Lord Literistic in NYC, saying that he’d pass on representing me. In short, it took him 120 days to make up his mind “No.” Unless, as one fellow writer put it, he was just “keeping me in his back pocket,” perhaps hoping that I would sell Growing Up In The Orgone Box on my own, at which point he could leap in and represent me without doing any real work. I don’t really know. In fact, I am willing to admit I don’t know fuckall about people in general, but I do know that my run of bad luck continues. You’d think that once in a while, things would break my way, but the gods seem to have other plans. If I said I’m not bummed out, I’d be lying.
So here’s my current situation: I am completely out of copies of Wet Goddess. I think there are 50 more waiting down at the printer, but I don’t have the money to pick them up. In fact, I don’t have any money at all, and the end of the month is swiftly approaching.
There are a couple more agents and a couple more publishers that I can try with Orgone Box, but frankly I don’t hold out much more hope. I feel exhausted and beat-up, and I don’t want to self-publish another book, that would just dilute my efforts to market Wet Goddess – like that’s going so well, ha-ha.
I guess it’s time to start looking for a job, probably long past time. It’s not that I don’t want to work, it’s just that I’ve had such dreadful experiences working for other people that, frankly, the prospect frightens me. From my history I know I am a victim of “intermittent explosive disorder,” which has the same initials as “improvised explosive device,” for much the same reason: You don’t know when it’s going to go off, who’s going to trigger it or who’s going to be injured when it happens.
I wish I felt happy and cheerful, but I don’t, so here’s something that might cheer you up and which you should listen to anyhow if you like dolphins. It’s an interview with Dr. Randall Wells, director of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, and the guy that I envy most of anyone in the whole world. More power to you, Randy.
Tags: agency, agent, book, dolphins, Dr. Randall Wells, job, literary, money, orgone box, Robert Guinsler, Sarasota, Sterling-Lord, wet goddess, writer, writing
Watched the Stuart Vener clip and felt badly for you..I don’t know how you keep fronting up to experiences like that…you’ve got a lot courage and persistence . Guess you gotta keep hoping that it’ll be worth it somehow. Thanks for the Randall Wells link…. there was a picture in there that looked like the photos in your book of ‘selina’ /cynthia..did she ever get back to you and give an opinion of your book?
Nope, she never did. She must be steamed, although I don’t think there’s anything she can do since the book is clearly a novel… a thinly veiled novel, but fiction nonetheless.