Current location:	by the fireplace altar
Current mood:	thoughtful
Entry tags:	writing

Perspective, with Fwoosh

Part of what's helped me keep perspective on the publishing industry these years without developing a lopsided bitterness toward the editorial/publishing end of it is knowing actual editors... and one of the ones I count as helpmeet in that regard is sdn, editorial director at Penguin Putnam's Firebird Books and senior editor at Puffin and Viking. aynjel was the one responsible for introducing us. At the time I was trying to figure out what to do with Secondary Flight, the quasi young adult science fiction novel, a much narrower market than YA Fantasy, and she said, "You know, I don't know. Why don't you ask sdn? Here's her email address."

So, with a shrug, I sent an email off. Asking an editor about the industry is far less frightening than sending them material, and I figured she might read the email and give me some good leads.

What I got back was, "I'm looking for YA SF. Send it to me."

Which was the first time I sent a query to an editor... by accident.

Stunned I quickly packed up the thing and mailed it to her and later she came back with, "Not quite what I'm looking for," but for weeks I was deeply entertained by the story. I'm confident when it comes to marketing my own writing, but even for me that was pretty cheeky. "I accidentally queried an editor, and she asked for my manuscript!" I would tell people, and get back the inevitable, "How do you accidentally query an editor??"

Anyway, I didn't sell that book to sdn, but since then we've talked, done card readings and had chats about fashion and hair--because sdn has a river of carmine waves that falls in fanfic-like glory past her waist and it is magnificent. A while back we were talking about tea and animal avatars and her Friends List decided that she's a winged bull terrier (with floaty magical stars), so I did a quick ink sketch for her. While I was drawing I thought about how much perspective she's given me just by chatting with me; how she put a human face on the editorial side of publishing, guaranteeing I would never demonize it as a whole. And I am grateful.

Perspective. Such a simple thing. Such a mind-altering thing.

I admit, to this day I think if I'd sold sdn that novel I would have had one of the best stories to tell on convention panel discussions EVER. Hey, sdn... want to retcon it? Just tell me what you're looking for and I'll whip something up for you. *grin*

(And yes, ladies and gentlemen... that is cheek!)

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