I’ve made a decision.

It is time.

Time to take back the books industry for the people. Time to produce books by the people and for the people.

We’ve had enough of superior beings sitting in New York offices telling us what is going to get published. Now it is time for US to decide. And our decision is that we want a lot more stories about families of squirrels. More anthropomorphic cereal boxes whose best friends are spoons. A major return to stories about drummer boys in the Revolutionary War. And as for craggy-jawed, adorable vampires – bring it on, there can never be too many.

Yes, we are going to rise up and reclaim publishing. Enough of all this tedious and unnecessary selection, rejection and general disappointment!

Oh, wait. Silly me. I’m so sorry, but I’ve just realized something . . .

We’ve ALREADY taken the industry back. I was forgetting a little thing called Print on Demand. And self-publishing. And blogging short fiction. And Authonomy . . . .

Of course! We the people have many, many ways, particularly these days, of getting our words out to a waiting world. If we have something to say, a vision of an audience, then we are never barred from the dissemination of our story. We can ALL become authors. It may cost us a bit, but a determined writer can get out there pretty easily nowadays, marketing and selling their words – and do really well with the enterprise. And why on earth not?

I think there are many ways of being a writer and most of them are, in my humble opinion, hugely underestimated and undervalued.

As a child I wrote many ‘books’ (dreadful spelling, huge writing, lined notebooks). They nearly all featured a yellow-haired girl called Sally and her horse-riding stables. These books were fully illustrated by me.

I wrote my first ‘serious’ piece (pretty funny, actually) when I was about 12 years old, and it was published in a local magazine.

My sister, as a teenager, took dictation from our grandmother of her entire life story, minutely transcribed from spidery shorthand. Being attacked in the jungles of Colonial India by unfriendly people wielding spears. Hearing news of the Titanic sinking. Sitting on the back steps as bombs came down in WW2.  It’s all there, for posterity. And now my mother is writing her own memoirs.

One can write for one’s church, school, children and grandchildren. Poems and stories make wonderful, personal gifts.  Or you can just write for yourself – like I did as a teenager when I was constantly ‘taking the dog out’ round the streets at night. My father used to think I was up to something nefarious, but in actuality I was composing POETRY in my head, which I would then come back and write down and file away in a special, secret place. Almost no one ever saw those poems, but a while ago I found them and was transported back to my early teens. 

I feel I am a writer, but I currently have absolutely no wish to be published. I am the MIDWIFE to those who seek publication, and I love that role.

Yes, there are tons of reasons to write, other than to be published by Random House or Flux or HarperCollins or Candlewick.

But if that is what you DO want, then it all becomes much, much more tricky. Because then a little word comes mightily into play. You know what that word is?

MARKET. MARKET. MARKET.MARKET.

And the market is not always fair, kind, understanding, or rewarding of what we feel should be rewarded.  The market can just be itself and make rude faces at us because it really is the boss of us, and it sets its own rules on what it deems valuable.  A quiet, beautiful, dreamy novella? Or a pacy, nail-biting, high-concept thriller? Where should the bigger advance go? What I personally think is pretty irrelevant. The market – ie, the consumer with money to spend – dictates the answer to the question.

So what is the market telling me right now?

It’s telling me I’ve got to be wary of paranormal. And that there are lots of stories around about teen girls with ‘an altered state of consciousness’ (ie, who transport somewhere else, switch places with someone, live an alternate life).

I’m seeing an increased wish for contemporary, real-world stories (ie, without supernatural elements). I’ve heard a couple of editors putting out feelers for a ‘weepie’ story. And it’s incredibly hard to find a really great love story.

I was talking to an editor just on Friday who, like me, would love to find a story set in another part of the world, set against a real political situation. And my own wish to find a bleak novel (definitely with literary quality, this one) set in Scandinavia (or I’d settle for Iceland quite happily) was echoed by another senior editor last time I was in New York.

Magical realism is also of interest. Worlds that are real but where strange things happen.

For me, quality of voice and crafting are always going to be very important. I am a detail-person, I was trained as an editor when I was young, and I care about precision and the sound of words.  That search for quality is what I hear echoed time and time again by editors. What they are seeking right now is a strong, grabby idea, written with literary flair and skill.

The market is a strange beast - a creature that turns and shifts. But after 30 years in the business, I can tell you one thing. WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND. What is out of fashion now will almost certainly at some point make a comeback.

Writing is by the people and for the people, and it always will be.

I can’t guarantee you a slot with Penguin or Bloomsbury, CarolRhoda or Simon & Schuster.  But I CAN guarantee that there are always good reasons to write, whether your audience is in the millions - or just one, yourself. It is not the size of your audience that validates the craft of putting words on a page.

The thought I want to leave you with is this. Enjoy writing; make it your treasure. And never let your quest for publication steal your joy.

Aha, you have leapt to my blog believing you are going to be given two outstanding tips for writing success, both of which you will be able to pin above your laptop as you pound the keys.

Sorry to disappoint, but today’s rules are not quite like that and have been dragged from the earthenware pot of practicality and from my sorry pounding head (see below). I feel too grotty to write much today (see below again), but here are two proven aids for a happy life.

The first is this:  Always be polite when you answer the telephone

One of the things that drives me crazy about living in the USA is SALES CALLS. I immediately see all you Americans nodding madly, and Brits looking a bit baffled.  In the course of any working day my phone will ring many, many times with dropped calls (some machine has decided another sucker picked up before me), mortage services, information about preferential rates on credit cards, charitable collections, political schmoozing etc etc etc.

When you’ve run for the phone ten times in one day only to get this nonsense, your temper starts to fray (just how many times CAN you say PLEASE TAKE ME OFF YOUR DATABASE I AM A BUSINESS!). In fact, a cold caller hung up on ME last week because I was curt with him. Unbelievable!

But when you have a manuscript out on submission the stakes get even higher. Every phone call could be THE CALL – either good or bad. The one that makes or breaks a writer’s dreams; the game changer.  And you never quite know which it will be.

It would be nice if the phone display forewarned you. A hint like THIS PHONE CALL IS CRUCIAL would help enormously, but sadly Verizon and Cox haven’t yet offered this service. So meanwhile all I can do is look for the magic number – which is usually 212. 

212. The code for New York. The Code of Destiny.

And so it was last Friday, when my phone rang in the morning, the magic numbers popping up on the display. One deep breath and I pick up, suddenly measured and charming. A very hoarse-sounding Donna Bray (Balzer & Bray, HarperCollins) came on the line.  Hoarse because she was in the throes of a whopping cold (see below yet again), but couldn’t admit defeat and go home to her bed before she had called me with a preemptive offer on the thrilling debut novel I had sent her – SLIDE by Jill Hathaway.

This phone call was everything a writer and agent might dream of. A great editor and publisher passionately wanting an author and leaping in with a two-book preempt that was on the table that day only.

We had other interest – I immediately visualized several VERY disconsolate editors looking at me reproachfully – but we had to go with it. It was the perfect ending, the dream ending, to the rollercoaster of submission and an amazing affirmation of all Jill Hathaway’s hard work and commitment to her first novel, which will be publishing early 2012 (look for more info on this site very soon).

One phone call is all it takes in the business. Always be polite when you pick up because you never know what news might be waiting on the other end of the line!

My second tip is this: If you feel poorly, do not go to meetings

Last week a bunch of guys met for some meetings the other side of the state. One of them (I have purposely forgotten his name, but may a pox be upon it) wasn’t feeling well.  After the event, about five of the other guys went down with the same thing. They then all went home to their families. One of them came home to ME. Three days later I went down with it too. And now I’m thinking, Am I really going to be OK for the SCBWI Mid-Atlantic conference on Saturday????? For all those critiques and the agent-panel moderation? I HAVE TO BE ALL RIGHT! I MUST BE ABLE TO TALK ALL DAY!

The problem is, we all feel we have to soldier on, whatever. As my son says, everyone thinks you’re ‘a big girl’s blouse’ if you let a bad cold stop you.

Er, WHAT? I hear you Americans say.  What on earth is a ‘big girl’s blouse’?!  Look, I didn’t invent the expression, I am merely a cultural conduit. It’s Brit-speak for when you’re soft, you’re feeble. (If it makes it any better, I think the ‘big’ bit refers to the blouse rather than the girl.)

Anyway, may I just say that you are not being a big girl’s blouse for staying home when you are poorly. You are possibly doing those of us who live hundreds of miles away from you but are on SCBWI faculties a great favour!

Oh, and I also have a third tip for the day: Always remember to turn off your house alarm BEFORE you let your dogs out.

Just sayin’.

Have a good week.

Sarah, the queen of Kleenex and Day Nurse.

It’s been a lean couple of weeks, blog-wise. Too much going on to write, given I’ve had the SCBWI Montana conference over in Bozeman, followed by just two days in the office before leaving crack of dawn last Thursday for a hectic time seeing publishers in New York.  All aspects of this business covered in just a few days, from aspiring authors learning their craft to the editors who – along with their respective teams – make the decisions on what to buy.

How I visualize this process is as a long funnel, which starts very wide (all the many writers who want to create a story and submit) and ends very narrow (the number who actually pop out as authors with deals).  The funnel gets practically microscopic when we look for those who’ve made it not only into deals but into bestsellerdom!

The journey from one end of the funnel to the other can be long and torturous or fast and (apparently) easy. But don’t be seduced by the stories you read about books being written in dreams/in a few afternoons over a bottle of wine/in a month or two. Lots of those stories are played up to sound exciting, and the ones that are completely true are very, very rare.  The path to publication – or to a second/third/fourth deal – is more usually scattered with stones and potholes and there are going to be a few really bloody knees on the way.

A literary agency is at any one time a ferment of things happening, from the superb to the interesting to the frustrating.  We had our fair share of superb this past week – notably with Brenna Yovanoff’s THE REPLACEMENT debuting on the NYT Bestseller list, but also with a couple of great deals in the run-up to Frankfurt.

But not all pots bubble beautifully just when you want to them to, and all this is so much on my mind at the moment that I want to give you some thoughts that popped into my head as I flew through the darkness to Denver/waited in the doctor’s surgery/bought my veg at Giant.  And I’m illustrating them with shots from last week’s brilliant Yellowstone trip (kindly organized by Regional Advisor for Montana, Michele Corriel) since erupting geysers, bubbling pools and general wasteland can feel quite appropriate when contemplating the writing life!

Anyway, here are my thoughts on skills/abilities you might seek to cultivate in order to make your authorial passage down the funnel more peaceful.  Some of them are truisms, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t true.

1 Try to take the challenges (ie, the stuff you find really, really hard) and turn them into opportunities. That means an opportunity to learn, to think outside the envelope, to look again with fresh eyes, to discover depths of strength within yourself.  What did you learn this time? What might you do differently next time? How can you improve?

2 Take a long view of a long game.  Generally, Rome was not built in a day, and careers are rarely built in a moment.  Think long term – how are you going to get there, even if the short term doesn’t look quite as rosy as you’d like. Be open to bending in the wind - encouraging a flexibility within yourself. 

3 Cultivate patience.  Most things in writing and publishing take a long time. Often a VERY long time. You can wait weeks to hear back on submissions. You can be rejected by 14 and hit with number 15.  You can miss with your first manuscript and hit with your second.  You can wait months for your contract to be negotiated and signed.  Months for your edits.  A lot of this makes watching paint dry look exciting.  Are you up for that – or how will you deal with it?

4 Meditate, ponder, breathe your way to a place that feels more peaceful.  Whatever it takes, strive to stay calm and balanced. That’s how you will help yourself produce your best work and most philosophical frame of mind.  [Believe me, I find this hard too.]

5 Remember that you can always keep improving at your craft and that things change.  So even if your first and second revisions feel like rubbish, your third could be The One!  I could mention some very big-selling titles that went the rounds for months before they ended up in the right shape for the market (you might be amazed).

6 Bear in mind that books are bought by teams of people, not individuals.  Which makes one person’s (or five people’s) enthusiasm not always enough. What matters is the offer, and a whole lot of people have to be on board to agree that.

7 Remind yourself that the destination will always change. At first the destination may seem to be getting an agent. But then it becomes getting a deal. Ah, then it turns into selling the book off the shelf (physical or electronic). But what about the next deal . . . .?  The destination is a moving target; it changes as your expectations of yourself grow.

8 It’s not really a question of ‘living the dream’ as a published writer, so ban that phrase.  The Dream is very hard work, with ups and downs and huge amounts of hard work.  In fact, the dream turns out to be as complex as most jobs, full of challenge and satisfaction, in varying measure.

9 Prepare for how you will take disappointment and knock-backs - or a long period without resolution.  It may or may not happen, but most of us just want to KNOW and then move on. In the books business, especially on submission, resolution can be quite a while coming.  How can you best reinforce your psyche?

10 Don’t brood over other writers’ blog posts or tweets.  Oh yes, it’s so easy to read what others choose to say about themselves and think, ‘Hey, why does it all go so brilliantly for them and not me?’ When we social network, we ‘brand’ ourselves. We say things that show ourselves in our best light. Behind those words are other layers of truth that those people will not be sharing.  So, presume it’s like an iceberg – you are seeing the top bit only – the majority is down below the waterline, well hidden.

11 If you are a published author DO NOT keep checking your Amazon ranking or Google yourself.  You will descend into a spiral of madness and we will have to stretcher you away and feed you through a straw. I’m serious – because unless you are in the top 10 of the nation’s sellers you are going to feel distressed and envious. [The agent equivalent of this is NEVER do a search for yourself on Verla Kay’s Blueboards.]

12 Laugh with disdain at THE X FACTOR or AMERICA’S GOT TALENT because the books world is not that world.  I have this view that we’re all slightly infected with that kind of outlook – that MY AMAZING DREAMS COULD COME TRUE VERY EASILY AND QUICKLY!  In our business it’s more a question of quiet, steady work over a long period of time.

13 Remember that this business is mercurial and capricious – subject to change and unpredictability.  It is not personal – it is business. Your manuscript is not YOU – it is your work. Decisions by publishers have a lot to do with a commercial marketplace; they are not just about your ability to create a nice story or turn a good sentence.

14 Study the rhinoceros and pin photographs of these beasts above your laptop. The rhino has a lovely thick hide. Little birds and insects jump around on that skin and the rhino is oblivious!  Graft some rhino hide on to yourself so you are not exposed to every nuance and passing breeze that could hurt you.  Practice a rhino roar!

15 Get lots of exercise.  Find your outlet. A wall you kick. A martial art you study. Or like me, stride around your neighbourhood in a leather cowboy hat ranting to yourself. Gradually your neighbours will catch on and start to say, ‘Oh, don’t mind about HER – she’s a writer. She can’t help it, she’s a bit crazy, poor love.’

16 Meditate on our friend Mr Kipling, who said it big time:

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two Impostors just the same;
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.

Everyone knows that one, but even more importantly I shall leave you with this Kipling quote, which I actually much prefer:

THE PRESENT IS BIG WITH THE FUTURE.

Look, you don’t have to tell me. I know perfectly well that every morning you climb out of bed and say to yourself, ‘Hmm, how I can bring a little joy to the heart of a literary agent today?’

Because of course I’m besieged by people asking just that question (and because I’m obviously a massive, rampant liar), I thought I would write about that very thing – agently happiness.

What makes me happy? Well, to give us a kickstart, I’ve posted photos here that all illustrate things that give me a warm, bubbling sense of joy. Take this first shot. It was taken on my birthday this August – one of the most perfect days this year in all senses – as I walked over this glorious headland with two of my favourite people in the world (and yes, the guy in the white T-shirt is one of my sons). We rambled down to a tiny shingle beach and sprawled in the sun chatting, before winding our way back through fragrant plants and subtropical palms to a wonderful dinner overlooking the ocean.

As an agent there are also things that make me very happy and things that make me just the opposite. However, since we must always major on the positive, let’s go straight to the AHQ (you’ve heard of IQ and EQ? Well AHQ is Agent Happiness Quotient).

Top of the AHQ list would have to be DOING DEALS.  Yes, I am a deal hog. Love ‘em, just love ‘em – love the whole process. The set-up (helping my author get their manuscript into the best possible shape), finessing my submission list and my pitch, receiving feedback from editors – and then that glorious, exhilarating moment when an offer comes in! There’s nothing to beat it, it’s addictive and thrilling, as is everything thereafter as I strategize and hone it all to get the best result for my author.

So this last week (one of our busiest yet) has been a rush of pure adrenaline.  A new US deal for Michael Ford’s THE POISONED HOUSE, sold to Whitman – all the more satisfying because Michael already has a UK deal for the book. Then our first bookclub sub-licence, for Lindsey Leavitt’s PRINCESS FOR HIRE (club/fair rights sold to Scholastic US). 

And then comes our piece de resistance - selling debut author Talia Vance in two deals, to two houses, on the same day (http://yamuses.blogspot.com/)! Her YA thriller SPIES AND PREJUDICE to Elizabeth Law at Egmont, and her big punchy Celtic paranormal YA BANDIA in a two-book deal to Flux, who are doing so much to bring great teen fiction to US readers.  Hooray to Talia for a great result – and surely a new name that we will all be watching as we move towards publication of her first two books in 2012.

So this has been a strenuous week, to put it mildly, but one full of elements that would delight any agent.

Deals are the icing on the cake, but where does the AHQ lie in terms of submissions and manuscripts in general (whether by submitters or more established writers)?  I’ve dealt with so much of this in recent posts, so won’t revisit all of it here.  However, there ARE some slightly different elements worth mentioning – notably what I think of as the MACRO and the MICRO of your presentation of yourself.

The MACRO – by which I mean that yes, it’s important to pay attention to the marketplace, your readership, your story arc (that there’s a very definite shape to what you’re trying to say about your characters) – everything that constitutes the ‘big picture’ of what you are doing.

However, it’s the MICRO that is currently occupying my thoughts a great deal. What do I mean?

I mean that it makes me really, really happy when writers are very precise in what they do. Every line, the choice of every word, is important in making your story sing and fly (don’t you love how I mix metaphors with gay abandon?).  It’s so important that you read and reread to make sure your phrasing, your grammar, your spelling, don’t make your reader trip and stumble as they try to get immersed in your story. If I stumble as I read your work, then an editor will also stumble – and stumbling is one step away from disengaging. And disengaging could be one step away from saying, ‘Actually, I think I’ll pass this time.’

I see a lot of queries and manuscripts that are littered with typos – often not only first lines, but even the email heading (even my name)!  That doesn’t make me happy – it makes me sad, because I know a writer has put so much time and effort into their work and has such high hopes, and yet haste is sending them out of the starting gate making an immediately bad impression.

In practical terms, how can you help yourself? Here are practical tips, culled from years in this business – and many, many mistakes of my own along the way. (NB: Remind me to tell you about the absolute corker of a mistake I made in my very first job . . . .)

1. Slow down.  Did you catch that? SLOW DOWN. There is far too much rush and unnecessary haste in this business – often deliberately generated due to that little thing called ‘hype’. We will all still be here, doing what we do, in a week or a month. It is rare that there isn’t time to breathe deeply and re-read once more.

2. LOOK WITH SEEING EYES .  Er, what? This is the phrase an old mentor of mine used to use and it’s really helpful. Don’t just let your eyes travel over the page in a glazed kind of way – really LOOK for mistakes (and presume there will be some).

3. Use Spell Check if you must. Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of Spell Check - I believe I should be improving my spelling and vocabulary all the time anyway. But if you don’t trust your spelling, then SPELL CHECK!

4. Keep a very big dictionary by your desk and use it.  You may THINK you know how to spell something, but if in any doubt, check it! 

5.  If you want to check a small piece of text, read with a ruler under each line. It will force your eyes to slow down. 

6. Do your research. Never just fire off submissions to all and sundry, without being absolutely certain why you’re sending to that particular person.

7. Don’t send submissions when you are very tired, stressed, or you’ve already done 20 and are punch drunk.  If necessary, send a couple at a time and then take a break.

8. Be particularly careful when you merge different drafts of your story. All too easy to find the versions don’t quite marry up. Always reread so the final version is seamless.

9. Don’t get so excited by a request for a partial or full manuscript that you send the wrong draft! Oh, how often that happens and most agents won’t have time to reread.

10. Take time out of your day – however brief – to pause and stretch and walk and breathe calmly.  My day always starts with a brisk walk. I look at the early mist hanging over the lake; I stare up at the Canada geese; I draft things in my head, and make plans, as I stride along.

11. Remember that all things will be well. Fortunately, this business is not life or death (though I know it often feels like it!).

I do hope these are useful thoughts. Plus you know that when you incorporate all those points in your writing, I will indeed be a very, very happy agent and delighted to make your acquaintance!

What makes YOU happy?  I am made happy by family, dogs, walking, taking photographs, playing ping pong, eating cheese (and cake, but I’m in denial) – and lovely writing, delivered with care and thought.

As Fall gets underway, here’s to happy agents (and writers) everywhere!

(Photos: Mullion Head, Cornwall, South-West England; Lucy - former showdog and Greenhouse Hound #1; Ping-pong bat - used for venting with both sneaky shots and smashes.)

I struggle with banality. I struggle with reading it; I struggle with writing it. I struggle constantly with how to avoid it so that everything I write is interesting, crisp, original and effective. I fail constantly, I know.

In the week that I became a fully feathered member of Twitter, the challenge is there on a daily basis: how to craft something that short, that fast, and yet be illuminating and important.

In what has been my personal TweetWeek, a story has been going round and round my head.

There was a girl. Strikingly attractive, with strong, clear eyes, she made you turn towards her when she entered a room. Smart and just a bit flirtatious, she was full of panache and sparkle, despite the rigid grip of her corsets and the grab of clips on her long dark hair.

She ‘walked out’ with a man called Joe. He was quite a few years older than her, tall and upstanding. His stiff collar emphasized the ramrod of his back, the restraint of his speech, the frown of his considered manners. Joe was a catch, with ambitions far away, a world to conquer, and he needed a desirable young woman at his side. How could she say no? It would have been a dereliction of duty, of common sense, to say no when it was high time she stepped away from her father’s protection.  A ring was given and accepted.

And then she met his brother. Ten years younger than Joe, Wilfrid was a young doctor – an obstetrician and anaesthetist - who spoke with his hands and smiled with his eyes.  He was so much more . . . like her? Or perhaps just so much more in general. Somehow, in this world of formality, they knew. How could this happen? It was never expected, and it could never be accepted. In trepidation she asked her father – could she change her mind? Could she be with Wilfrid and not Joe? She had made a mistake – surely she would not have to pay with the rest of her life?

Her father, all mutton chops and implacable as an oak, told her straight. ‘Daughter, you gave your word. There is no way out when you’ve plighted your troth.  You are Joe’s, and Joe is yours, until death do you part.’

They married, and war broke out. Wilfrid volunteered immediately and headed to France, now a temporary captain who would lead a team of medics and stretcher bearers into the vilest hell-holes on earth.  Through the Somme, Arras, Messines Ridge, to Passchendaele and Ypres, he toiled in the mud among mangled men with their limbs blown off , corpses impaled like rotting rats in the filth. Wilfrid’s life seemed charmed as he dodged and dived, and he became known as a man of great courage and humanity, even under fire, and he had total dedication to gathering in the wounded who lay gasping in the earsplitting loneliness of night. He was awarded the Military Cross, one of war’s highest honours.

A few weeks later, on October 1, 1917, at around dusk, Wilfrid set off into No Man’s Land, a sergeant at his side. They were the nearest aid post and men were out there, terribly injured; a few minutes or maybe hours would decide whether they lived or died. Ill-prepared, the two men stumbled in the gathering dark, losing their way – and found themselves much too near an enemy position. Flinging themselves into a shell-hole they pondered what to do. Run like crazy – or wait till nightfall and slip away. Wilfrid as captain was the decider, and he was always going to run rather than wait.

Five steps out of the hole and he was hit, straight in the chest, by a sniper’s bullet. There were no words, no grand ending – just instant death in the dark slop of mud.

The girl was devastated when she heard. She wrote to everyone she could think of to find out what had happened to Wilfrid. Exactly how he died, where he was, what he said, and where his last resting place would be. And answers came back – from his commanding officer, the sergeant who had been there and lived, from the men with whom he served. Wilfrid was someone special and irreplaceable and it was a terrible blow.

The years went by. Joe left the girl, and their three children, for someone much younger. She struggled home alone from India, impecunious, striving to make ends meet in a time when women generally didn’t do things alone. Joe didn’t really honour his commitments, he proved elusive, and the endless shuffle for resources became a defining mark of the passing years.

My grandmother – because that’s whom the girl was – died on Armistice Day in 1985. I often sat and listened to her stories – of two world wars, two men called Joe and Wilfrid, her years in India, the sinking of the Titanic – and so much more.  But I was always fascinated by the decisions she had to make and the life she might have had with her young doctor, if he had lived, if she could have followed her heart and not the cold conventions of her time.

And now I have an envelope of letters – so flimsy and aged I must handle them with the utmost care. Letters from that sergeant who was with Wilfrid when he fell. Cuttings from the newspaper, including a photograph of Wilfrid, looking out at me with his kind, steady eyes.

In 2002, clad in a bright-yellow rain poncho, I squelched through a monsoon up a muddy hillside in Sri Lanka’s northern tea country. After a quest of several weeks, and guided only by one cryptic letter and a cracked sepia photograph, I had tracked down Joe’s grave.  As I stood there, a world away from everything I knew, I felt profoundly moved. I had come so far and in some way had found my grandfather, a man I never knew but who had such a deep effect on my family for so many years. I wanted to know him and understand him – and perhaps thank him, because whatever else he did or didn’t do in life, I wouldn’t have been me without him.

And now, thanks to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, I know exactly where Wilfrid lies too, in a small cemetery down a quiet lane in what was Flanders, now Belgium. I know that before too long I am going to find him and tell him I bring love from several generations of our family, including my sons whom I’m certain he would have liked. Wilfrid is not forgotten, we have handed on his story, and to be remembered and talked about three generations after his death is the only and best gift we can ever give him.

This is one of my stories. What are yours and how will you tell them? Because from this texture comes the novels we will write and how we will choose to write them.

So perhaps you can see my problems with Twitter. A few ‘characters’ – 140 - to tell the story?  My lip curls. But I’ll keep trying, so please be gentle. And should you wish to join me in my quest, you can find me here - http://twitter.com/SarahGreenhouse.

(Photographs:  Flower - Meadowlark Gardens, Northern Virginia.  Candles:  The Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy.)

It’s summer time, and the livin’ is easy.

Well, sort of. Actually, Julia and I are very hard at work, with record numbers of submissions, lots of interesting projects circling, and, as you know, some fine deals under our belts in the last few weeks. This is a business that never sleeps!

But just for fun, we thought we’d ask ourselves some of the questions you might ask us, if you could. We know that lots of you wonder, ‘Who are these agents? How do they think? Would I like them?’ Well, here are a few fun tasters into what makes us both tick.

As some of you will know, I’m also just back from vacation, so the photos are just a few of the characters I met on my travels this summer. Enjoy!

What sort of student were you at high school and how have you changed since then?

SARAH:  Shy, diffident and lacking in confidence – which made me appear very lazy. Then at 16 I started to bloom. I found one thing I could do well (English) and it was transformative. I was not expected to achieve anything, and I determined to prove everyone wrong. That has motivated me ever since.

JULIA: A bit naughty but solid. Nothing’s changed.

Think of one individual who has had the greatest impact on your career path. Who was it and why.

JULIA: My mother: a great businesswoman and entrepreneur. She left Holland when she was 16, came to London and set up a business that became one of the top PR firms in Europe. 99% of what she says is right.

SARAH: Mrs Cowley, my English teacher from ages 16-18. She was completely different to any teacher I’d had before – passionate about her subject and aiming very high. She showed me a vision of my future, which was literature.

What novel has had the greatest effect on you in your life and why (only allowed one, sorry we’re ruthless!)?

SARAH: Tolkien’s LORD OF THE RINGS in my early teens. I was awestruck. How could it be possible to write something like this???

JULIA: THE RATS by James Herbert. I read it much too young and the effect wasn’t wholly positive. Nightmares for years. But it did give me a love of horror that has proved useful.

What job would you have done if you hadn’t become a literary agent and why?

JULIA: Chef. I love that the deadlines during service are twenty minutes at most. And a walk-in fridge is a great place to cool off.

SARAH: Singer or psychotherapist. I performed a lot as singer-songwriter in the early 90s (complete with leather pants and long red hair). I also studied psychotherapy to diploma level.

What do you love most and dislike most about your job?

SARAH:  I love telling a writer they have a deal – especially a debut author. I get as emotional as they do. I hate it when things don’t work out with a publisher but you come so, so close. You need nerves of steel in this business (or you need to pretend you have them).

JULIA: Giving the good news and giving the bad news. Also finding those books in my submissions box: The manuscripts that get you cancelling your dinner plans and keep you up till dawn.

If I had a debut author’s manuscript and a red pencil in my hand I’d be most likely to . . .

JULIA: Take out the ‘telling’. It’s amazing how red-penning all the telling can bring a scene to life.

SARAH: Cut out a lot of adjectives and adverbs. Writing more sparely can give your story greater impact because both your characters and world have some breathing room.

You’re sitting at your desk, banging your head on the wall with frustration. What is most likely to be the cause?

SARAH:  The server going down. Or editors not replying.

JULIA: Technology going wrong.

What would you most like to do if you had a day off work?

JULIA: Get my boots on and go for a hike. Or go to the cinema twice in the afternoon.

SARAH: Hiking in a wild place or going round an ancient castle or historic building. With my faithful Canon at the ready, of course.

Yum, yum. Favorite food and drink?

SARAH: Cake!  Apple cake. Blueberry muffins. Chocolate roulade. Carrot cake. Even scones, with fresh raspberry and walnuts.  Sadly, I also like wearing my jeans so I eat a lot of fantasy cake. (And by the way, Julia is weird. See below.)

JULIA: Raw herring, soft roll, chopped onions.

You’ve won a prize of a vacation in any place of your choice. Where would you pick and what sort of trip would it be?

JULIA: Up a mountain. Any mountain. Go Capricorn!

SARAH:  Somewhere with big views and wild scenery where I can think about the meaning of life.  I’d love to go out west and see the really big mountains.

If you could find three great new novels to represent right now, what genres and age groups would you pick?

SARAH: I’d love to find a thriller with a fantastic ‘what if’ concept that turns on a dime.  A great, spare, amazing love story that does something new. Stylish, quirky, brilliantly voiced younger fiction.

JULIA: I’d love some horror with a great premise. A thriller with a great premise. A love story with a great premise! Any age.

There are tons of agents and agencies in the world. Tell us why you think an author should choose Greenhouse to represent them? 

JULIA: We both work hard, and creatively, editorially. We share each other’s skills. We are the only transatlantic children’s book agency. If I was an author, I’d want to have an agent on both sides of the Atlantic – and Greenhouse offers that (with incredible results).

SARAH: We’ve made Greenhouse fly in just 2+ years, in an intensely competitive environment and from a standing start. I believe that underscores both our energy and our skill. Plus we have a passion for subsidiary rights (vital in today’s marketplace) and a wealth of transatlantic knowledge which can be highly advantageous to clients.

With which fictional character (adults as well as children’s books) do you most identify and why?

SARAH: Kay Scarpetta (Patricia Cornwell). I’d always been fascinated by her, and then some years ago one of my publishing staff said I reminded her of Kay (tough on the outside, gentle on the inside, apparently!).

JULIA: According to those facebook quizzes: Jack Bauer!

What is the one writing tip you would choose to share with a new writer?

JULIA: Keep at it.

SARAH: Be at peace. And listen.

Publishers – love ‘em or hate ‘em?

SARAH: Love ‘em, a lot. On a professional level we must hold them to the highest standards. But on a personal level I know the huge workload, the unrelenting meetings, the financial constraints they are under. It’s a tough job and it’s getting tougher, with fewer staff, higher targets for books, every decision under a microscope. We try hard to be collaborative rather than confrontational.

JULIA:Love ‘em. As an agent, I have the publishing teams that I love to work with, from editor right through to sales and marketing: The dream teams. And those dream teams come because everyone works together and there’s trust, respect and openness. We’re all on the same side after all.

Which novel(s) published in the last year would you have most liked to represent (but didn’t)?

JULIA: GONE by Michael Grant. Oh, and THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin. That is an epic book.

SARAH:  THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. Obviously not YA, but somehow I’d have made a case! In YA, I’d have loved to land MATCHED (Allie Condie) which pubs this Fall.

Greenhouse is a relatively young agency (2+ years old).  Where would you like the agency to be in five years time?

SARAH: The top destination in both US and UK for authors seeking representation in children’s/teen, and a byword for author care and great results. Ambitious? Moi?

JULIA:Unchanged in terms of our values and strengths - but bigger.

Describe yourself in three words.

JULIA: I asked my best friend for these: Enthusiastic, supportive and creative.

SARAH:  Driven, energetic and contemplative.

Name one thing you do that really annoys your nearest and dearest.

SARAH: Looking at my Blackberry constantly. Chewing Orbit gum and leaving it in disgusting places when the phone rings. (I know, it’s repulsive.)

JULIA:  A taste for trashy magazines.

Describe your style of agenting in one sentence.

JULIA: Honest. I don’t like the feeling of being ‘handled’: I always want the truth. That’s what I seek out and expect from others so that’s what I give my authors. The job is a huge privilege: I’m on the front line of people’s careers, seeing and knowing things that they might not, so it’s only right that I say things as they are.

SARAH:  Energetic, straight, and caring.  I have worked with authors ever since I graduated from college (that’s a long time ago!) and I understand what this precarious industry feels like. Writers want my best efforts, they want to be able to trust what I say, but they also need kindness. Courtesy is a big word with me.

What are the hallmarks of the query email you’d most like to find in your inbox?

SARAH: It will follow our guidelines (see website) and be clear, straightforward and concise. It will also entice with a short outline of an irresistibly compelling plot.

JULIA: I think the strength of a query is all about the strength of the premise. So I’m looking for a great premise that has focus, clarity and freshness.

What is the biggest no-no you are likely to find in a query?

JULIA: Starting with an alarm-clock, waking up and then breakfast. In most cases, the decision the writer has made is to start their story on the morning the action starts, rather than to start in their story.

SARAH: I agree with Julia on alarm clocks. In terms of the query, I don’t like bragging. The best writers don’t, I think, boast constantly about their brilliance because they’re too busy thinking about how they might be even better.

Animals are important to both of you. What was your first pet and how did you feel about him/her?  If you could get any new pet now, what would you choose?

SARAH: First pet was a hamster called Hamlet. Now we have two dogs (standard Dachsunds) who are very loving, funny and unbelievably stubborn. My husband is dog crazy and we have to speak every pooch we meet in the street. We’d love another Golden Retriever one day – probably a boy called Nelson.

JULIA: Bertie (real name Alberta) was my first pet. She was an English Bull Terrier. Really tough looking and all muscle. I was a baby when she joined the family and I used to pull her tail, try to ride her and eat her food and she never got annoyed. And she once attacked a flasher at the playground. She was very cool.