Crossing the 200 page mark on the edits Kerry provided for The Last Track felt pretty good. While less than ten percent of the novel needs attention, the bulk of the issues are in the first half of the book; therefore the second half will–I hope, dare I dream to be so naive–go much easier.

Ideally I’ll have this all wrapped by Tuesday, take a few days to read a hard copy closely and then email it to Kerry for the final pass. Like Oriana, her turnaround time verges on superhuman, so she’ll get it back in plenty of time for a once over. I’m also going to have her look at another project I want to start shopping, one a long way from being done.

After all, I do have other wares.

The second agent who requested who requested The Last Track passed; however, they did include some encouragement:

“I really liked the main character…”

“…it’s 90 percent there…”

“…I hope you will continue to work on it and refine each page until the narrative is seamless…”

Her response reaffirms three thoughts.

1) Agents are not editors. They may have been at one time, and maybe they serve in that capacity for huge clients, but probably not.

2) An unpublished author hawking fiction needs a novel verging on 100 percent to get an agent.

3) Neither precept applies to non-fiction. I know an unpublished author who sold a non-fiction project in a mid-six figure deal that was 1/3 the size of the finished book. In their case, the package included an endorsement from a celebrity. Regardless, the book was in no way 90 percent there. It had all the seeds of being there, though. I read the version that went to auction and concur it deserved a publisher.

Most importantly, it reaffirms my decision to partner with Kerry and address the other agent’s concerns. So yes, I will continue to work until the narrative is seamless. 😉