Five Lessons Learned After I Signed With My Agent

Please welcome guest Jennifer L. Gatewood (aka Jennifer Bohmueller) to Writer Unboxed today! Jennifer had the thought to share some of the lessons learned since she’s become agented–she is now represented by Lori Galvin at Aevitas Creative Management–and we knew from experience those lessons would be many. Jennifer, who reports that she is “currently writing a domestic suspense novel while plotting others,” has a degree in journalism and works as a communications consultant and freelance writer. Her short stories have been published online and in print. When she’s not writing or reading, she’s traveling or hiking.

You can follow Jennifer on Threads or Twitter or check out her website at www.jennifergatewood.com

It’s only been a few months, but there’s so much I’ve learned since signing with my agent last fall. So much so that, ironically, I feel I could write a book about it. Maybe one day I will. But until then, here are the top five lessons I learned after signing with my agent.

1. Writing is solitary, but you don’t have to do it alone. During one of my first calls with my agent, I asked her if she had any advice for me. She stressed I should find other writer friends. I didn’t know what a lifesaver this piece of advice would be. I soon learned how important it was to have cheerleaders, confidants, and an understanding ear in my corner. I wasn’t prepared for the rollercoaster of emotions during the process—feeling like I had written the next Pulitzer Prize piece of literature and then feeling like everything I wrote was a big stinking pile of trash. I experienced a severe bout of Imposter Syndrome right after I received my first round of constructive feedback from my agent. (I talk about overcoming Imposter Syndrome on The PPS Club Podcast.) If I didn’t have my writer friends cheering me on, I have no doubt I would have shelved my novel and gone back to my day job.

2. You’ll need to level-up on feedback. I had no idea I would get feedback about my manuscript. I thought once an agent signed you, then you had made it. Surely the next step was a hefty contract with one of the big publishing houses and on to the New York Times Best Sellers list. I giggle-snort at how naïve I was. It was a wake-up call when my agent mentioned what wasn’t working with my novel and why it wasn’t quite ready to go out on submission. It was then I realized I needed to be very receptive to feedback. Not just from my agent, but from beta readers and critique partners. I’m not in any way recommending that you nod and go along with any and all feedback. You are still the author and know your characters and their story best. Writers often get nervous talking about the revision stage, and voice concern that their book will change. My book has changed for sure based on feedback I’ve received. However, I strongly believe it’s changed for the better—it’s more focused, has a stronger plot and characters, a better ending, and the list goes on. I’ve learned that feedback is a collaborative process. My agent is awesome and has been nothing but supportive and encouraging. She asked all the right questions that helped me to step back and examine my book so I could figure out what story I wanted to tell. Anyone you decide to get feedback from needs to be on the same, ahem, page as you.

3. Patience is key. I had no clue the time it took to get a book to market for traditional publishing. After signing with my agent in October 2022, I foolishly thought I would publish my first novel (I wouldn’t learn the term “debut” until weeks later) no later than October 2023. I had a writer friend who was on the verge of her debut novel coming out explain to me what to expect through the process. She said a bunch of stuff could happen all of a sudden, and then nothing—that it’s a lot of hurry-up and wait. I thought I was a pretty patient person; like, just-give-me-a-good-book-and-a-comfortable-seat-and-I-can-wait-for-an-eternity patient person. I’ll just say I’ve lost count of how many books I’ve read since this process began. However, I believe things are supposed to happen when they’re supposed to. So, I’ve learned to wait.

4. You’ll need to study the craft…a lot. During the getting to know you stage, I had a new writer friend ask if I studied the craft. I responded I wasn’t much of a crafter but had tried latch hooking once and didn’t think I could learn to knit. Yes, those words actually came out of my mouth. Instead of laughing for a good five minutes, this dear friend explained she meant she wanted to know if I read any books on the craft of writing. Clearly, from my response, I hadn’t. My agent asked a similar question after I signed with her. That’s when it clicked that I needed to look at my writing from a more professional standpoint. Because, like any profession, I wanted to improve upon it and ultimately be the best I could be at it. I’ve since devoured books about novel writing, watched MasterClasses and YouTube videos from authors, read articles about writing, talked with other writers, and consumed anything else that I thought would make me a better writer. I foolishly thought I knew how to write because I had put an entire story down on paper. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, right? Nope. I now understand that the step of getting the novel written is only half of the writing process.

5. You’ll have to put in the work. I didn’t realize how much effort it would take to get to a final manuscript. That there would be times when I would be sure I couldn’t think of a fix to a problematic part of my story. That I’d rearrange chapters one day only to move them back the next. Or I’d cut large chunks and then have to draft whole new sections. I discovered that I would have to invest the time and energy into my novel if I wanted to write a book others would consume and hopefully enjoy. What keeps me pushing through the often difficult process of revising and editing is this love for what I do.

Those are just the five lessons I’ve learned for now. I’m aware that I still have a lot to learn and that I don’t know what I don’t know. But I’m okay with that because I can’t wait to see what the next stage of my writing journey brings.

WU Community: Agented or not, what have you learned on your writing journey? How long had you been writing when the lesson(s) arrived? The floor is yours.

Guest

Many thanks to today’s guest.

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