So it's a rainy Labor Day Monday. Charles and I are looking out the large front windows of the house (my office is in what would traditionally be a dining room) watching the grass turn green again and the small popandripple of water hitting water as it slides down the street. He is half-dozing face-down on a comfy blanket the picture of feline happiness, and I am thinking about how I owe you a blog more than ever. 

I don't have a full blog prepared and my children's book chapter is past due for novel group, so this will be yet another shortish stop gap. My apologies, you deserve better. So without further ado, the many excuses of Asha Vose, and hopefully a little good info on agents as well. 

This week I have begun the semi-arduous process of beginning to select my dream list of 50 or so agents. I realize that sentence is loaded, so let me put the safety on -- semi-arduous because it involves a lot of research while having the added bonus of allowing the agent oriented day dreams of publication and advance -- dream list of 50, no that's not a typo.

These days getting an agent can be a numbers game, and there are many possible dreams an author has: the dream of getting a large advance, the dream of selling rights in other countries, the dream of having a long and fulfilling career, and the more basic dream of simply seeing one's work in print. In one way or another all these agents will be my dream agent, but they represent very different dreams. 

But enough about my adventures in agent search. I blog about books, so here is what I've been reading this week, and if your nerves are delicate I recommend pairing it with a strong shot of bourbon. I've been reading Jeff Herman's Guite to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents. Don't get me wrong, I have many Writer's Market editions sitting on the shelf behind me as I write this, but for agent information - his book is the best. He offers a comprehensive list, complete with interviews of possibly a thousand agents, as well as advice on selling your novel.

I will always love the Writer's Markets friends and loved ones have pressed on me when I said I wanted to be a writer as a young woman. Those editions represented a different dream as well, the dream of seeing my work in print. I have been lucky enough to achieve that dream.

I have a new dream now, and it is to sell a novel. What is your dream?