When we last left my manuscript, it had been rewritten, shaped up, tightened in a dozen different ways and polished within an inch of its little literary life. My agent was delighted and off she went into the wonderful world of NYC publishing sending it to many different editors all of whom either didn't read it or if they did, were saddened to discover that it did not have bestseller stamped across its first page.

Major bummer when that happens.

My most recent conversation with my agent found us commiserating over the fact that not much is getting bought these days that isn't political or entertainment (or an obvious combination of the two). Things aren't happening too fast for literary fiction which is a blend of history, memoir and fiction and written in the vein of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried but set in the Alaska commercial aviation world. So while I'm still represented by Writer's House and while my agent will still be doing what she does to the best of her ability, the ball has been sent back in my court.

I have to show proof that my book is something people want to read.

So here we go on a round of querying the likes of which I have not done since I signed with my agent in the first place. Like every other writer in the world I thought I was past this point once the agent gods smiled upon me which in retrospect was a pretty naive thing to believe but if you've ever read the tweets during #askagent then you'd understand. (Agents are the end game in all their questions, no one seems to consider that maybe the book won't sell RIGHT AWAY.)

I have thought about veering away from NYC and looking at smaller, more airplane-directed pubs but honestly the feedback I've gotten from aviation folks isn't enormously positive. MAPS is about a lot of things other than flying which doesn't always go over so well with pilot-types. It might work but regardless of what publisher reads it, I still agree that I have to make the manuscript seem more appealing by showing that magazines have been interested. The recent ANCHORAGE PRESS sale helps a lot but it's only one (and it's Alaskan) so I'm back at the keyboard writing some formal letters and selling my work like nobody's business.

I'm trying to enjoy this. I'm thinking positive. Really.

The takeaway from my experience would be that sometimes selling a manuscript is easy. Sometimes it fits with an editor early on and you get positive responses and the book is on its way. Other times though, it's just not quite what editors want or expect or perceive as saleable. Sometimes you don't click with the decision-makers no matter how connected your agent might be. Sometimes, you just have to pull yourself up by your boot straps and sell some of it on your own.

I helped load airplanes at 40 below zero once upon a time. How hard could this be?