Blogger: Rachel Kent
Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Yesterday we discussed hard parts of agenting; now we can focus on the good ones! Here’s a list of three of my favorite parts of the job:
1) Building relationships. I enjoy getting to know people; so this is a great part of being an agent. I meet wonderful people at writers conferences, and I also build relationships with editors and my clients. At Books & Such, we encourage our clients to build relationships with each other because so much good can come from friendship, encouragement and positive critique.
2) Selling a book. Each time I place a book I’m so thrilled! I’ve not only helped an author get his or her book published, but I’ve also helped put out a positive in the world to make a difference in readers’ lives. I only represent books that will be helpful to people in some way, and I have rejected good writing before because the book wasn’t thought-provoking or didn’t encourage the reader in one way or another. These are the types of books I like to read; so it’s what I want to represent. Telling my client that we have a sale is one of the best things ever!
3) Helping to make manuscripts stronger. I always have enjoyed offering feedback to writers. Suggesting revisions and then reading a better manuscript once revisions are done is such fun for me.
What do you enjoy most about your job as a writer? What keeps you working at it?
Rachel, you are so right about building relationships. In the writing industry it can be so lonesome. While writing an author spends their time alone with their PC and as an agent you spend a lot of time quietly reading all the proposals and making your decisions. I know as someone that is currently entering the field it can be a very scary thing. So many agents seem unapproachable. I love that you understand that building friendships is a vital part of this industry!
Congratulations on 3 years! You should be proud. Here’s to 3 more years…and 3 more after that.
I love writing because one thought, one idea, one image of a character or a place can suddenly become a story. I can finally use my imagination for something other than daydreaming.
Great post! I really relate to #1. It’s so fun for me to meet another writer, talk books, and critique each other’s stories. One friend and I meet at Starbucks every week to write and chai latte it up!
I love it when “the little people in my head” take on lives of their own and start telling me what happens next. (You can only say that to other writers without someone thinking you’re going over the edge, y’know?)
I love sharing even a rough draft with a friend and having them beg for the next bit before it’s even written. Entertaining readers is, after all, why we do this.
I also love working scriptural truth into a fictional situation and knowing that, even without preaching and maybe especially because I didn’t, someone who needs to know just that will read it one day and say, “Aha!” That’s why I really do this.
There is very little that I don’t love about writing. From brainstorming and pre-writing notes, to editing a finished manuscript to make it better, I love it all.
But I’d have to say my favorite part is diving into my characters’ heads. I love being in their “mind space” and thinking about what makes them tick, what emotional & spiritual journeys I’d like to send them on, and how their flaws affect their actions. This is easy to do for my main character, because she is the reason I’m writing the story in the first place. But it’s also a fun exercise for my more minor characters, even if the ups and downs of their spiritual paths don’t ever make it into the main narrative of my story. It (hopefully) has the effect of making their appearances in the main narrative feel more three-dimensional and truly human. Love it! 🙂
I like the favorites you listed.
Mine for writing include:
Meeting the characters
Fleshing out the story
Entering the creativity zone
~ Wendy
I agree with everything Lynn said. 🙂
Writing something that can positively impact people’s lives gives a writer a feeling of purpose…as if we have made a worthwhile contribution to the world. What’s most fun for me I shapin characters…what do they look like, what do they like, what they don’t like….what makes them tick. Lol
I love this series Rachel! I can’t wait for tomorrows blog! 🙂
Building relationships, definitely. I love meeting other writers. Maybe I’ve just been extraordinarily blessed, but every writer I’ve met has been generous with advice, encouragement, and their time.
It’s also fun to talk to readers at different events. I’m convinced some of them should be writers, and I tell them so!
Your top three best things make me smile. Thanks!
Maybe it’s a bit too general, but I love just gettting to create–everything from plots and characters to the structure of sentences and words.
Like Lynn, I enjoy it when my characters have come alive in my own mind and begin directing their own steps. Of course, if they’re not behaving the way I’d hoped, it can also be irritating.
I also love talking with other writers, because my non-writing friends always give me strange looks when I start talking about my out-of-control characters. My kids joke that their mom has “imaginary friends.”
I love that you enjoy the revision process. I think it’s important to enjoy at least part of a process that tends to have such negative feelings with it.
I like your first point, too. I feel that many of us are building small relationships just in commenting and reading others’ comments here on this blog!
In writing, I really enjoy the process. Writing helps me sort out my thoughts and feelings, solve problems, and grow closer to God. My mind works too fast, so in conversation, I can talk too quickly at times. In writing, I am able to sort my thoughts out more clearly. (A skill I’d like to transfer to speaking!) Plus, in writing, I get to dig into God’s Word more and learn! I also love that written words can have so much opportunity to encourage, strengthen, and provoke positively.
Excellent series, Rachael. Many happy returns to your anniversary at Books & Such…
For me…
I love crafting beautiful sentences, and paragraphs, and chapters.
I love finding just the right word.
I love hanging out with literary friends.
I love finding Jesus in good writing.
I love the potential to influence lives for the good.
I love the coffee that fuels all of this.
Thanks for asking.
Bill