#as silly as that can sometimes sound

[pynkhues]

Hello! I just saw the ask where you said you have an agent and i have always wondered like, how do you go from having to do everything by yourself to having an agent? Like where do you look for one and how do you know is a good fit?? P.s. i find your input from the biz so interesting!

Hey! Thank you for your kind words, anon!

How you land an agent is really pretty dependent on what your artform is, and even in some cases where you live (the American system for instance is a bit different to the Australian one), but overall, there are quite a few pathways that can get you in the room with one.

My pathway's actually pretty traditional and generally considered the sort of 'old school' approach to getting agent-representation. I started submitting short stories to journals and magazines in 2011, and had the absolute beginner's luck of having the first one I ever submit accepted for publication in a journal, haha (I was 20 at the time). The next few years made for a lot of rejections and a few acceptances, and as I was writing and submitting those, I was also writing a novel manuscript which was never and will never be published (Stephen King has a famous quote where he says that your first novel is really you learning how to write a novel, which I very much agree with), and then started writing my second one.

With my second novel manuscript, I started submitting to development opportunities and got invited to a writer's residency in Western Australia before winning a Fellowship to further develop both the manuscript and my broader professional practice. I applied to do the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop in America, was accepted, and used the money from the Fellowship to develop it while I was over there. Around this time, I started getting invited to submit to agents and I submit to two who were both very nice, but one felt I didn't write in a style she could sell at the time (there's a particular Australian voice which is very hyper masculine which my writing is not, and it's what was popular at the time), and another who said she loved my writing style but not the projects I was interested in writing (she wanted me to try more commercial women's literature, which I don't mind reading but isn't really what I write).

So I went to America, did the workshop, came back, finished my novel, submit it to a prize which it was shortlisted for, but didn't win, so I bottom drawered it, wrote another novel manuscript which was shortlisted for a different prize, also didn't win, but was invited to be submit to the senior editor with a view to maybe being published. I did, then that editor left the industry and my manuscript got lost at the publishing house (it happens), and so I went back to focusing on short stories for a while. I had a bunch published, went to a conference, pitched a bunch of different projects to an agent, but she wanted one I hadn't (and still haven't, haha) finished, so I kind of blew that.

Meanwhile, another major publishing competition came up where the prize was a publishing contract with Penguin Random House Australia, and so I dusted off my manuscript, did a round of edits on that, submit it and got shortlisted again, only this time I also won!

When I won, I had a lot of agents reach out to me again asking me to submit work (including one of the ones who'd already read my manuscript and didn't like it, haha), and I took meetings with all of them, contemplated doing it without an agent at all (which you can do in Australia, but not in many other countries), but then ended up going with a woman I'd already known for a while in a different capacity (I used to work at a writer's festival and I'd met her a few times through there). She was really excited not just about my book that was already signed, but about three of my other projects - one in particular that I'm currently writing - and she talked me through the contracts with PRH and international rights in a way that I understood, which was also important to me.

That was back in 2020 that I signed with her, and she's helped with the international sale of my book (it's actually having a very small print run in the UK and US this year which is wildly exciting because they're very hard markets for international authors to break into), and she's otherwise trying to keep me on track with my next novel right now, haha.

So yeah, my pathway's a long one but also a pretty traditional one. Writers though can go through pitching sessions at festivals, cold submissions, referrals from other authors, be approached off the back of great articles or short stories, or even off social media profile (I've heard some industry horror stories about some of these though), so it really does depend. My understanding is that it's kind of same-but-different for people in other artforms, but the main point I think is that the agent has to believe in your work, or at least believe that they can sell your work.

#this is pretty rambly anon haha #but yeah #it's a journey #as silly as that can sometimes sound #industry stuff #welcome to my ama #rl

[gay-impressionist]

i love how "on est pas à l'abri d'un coup de chance" (we're not sheltered from a stroke of luck) is initially a good omen but can also be used to warn about bad luck

#like. idk how to articulate this #but i like how we reverse uno-ed it #i think i just like sarcasm #but 'chance' is such a positive word in french‚ unlike chance or luck in english #it's not ambiguous and we don't really have an antonym #but the universe is so uncertain that sometimes you can only doubt your good luck is gonna last #so this phrase is both a way to keep off bad luck and to mentally prepare yourself when something eventually goes wrong #idk how to explain it #bc it sounds silly when i try #but yeah. language my beloved #upthebaguette #languages

[cuckweeds]

if you think you are morally responsible for Trump's actions if you do not vote against him then why do you not think you are morally responsible for Bidens actions if you do actually vote for him?

#it truly doesnt make sense to me how you guys can think this way #you are responsible for your inactions but not for your actions? #also why do you guys think that every vote that isnt for joe Biden is a vite for trump #do you know theres people who voted third party instead of trump? #thats right i know multiple people who voted for jill stein last election instead of trump! #not everyone voting third party is someone who wouldve otherwise voted blue and its silly to assume so #sometimes voting third party takes votes away from republicans too! and you could encourage more republicans to vite third party too! #i stg the democratic party is so sad #all of you “blue is ALWAYS better than red no matter what” sound so ridiculous like #so if trump switched parties right now hed be the good guy? #bc thats essentially what yall are saying when all you care about is whether they call themselves a democrat or not

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

Me, fighting tooth and nail against my irl friends who are sw*fties: yeah well, maybe I want my sad girl music to have a 3 minute guitar solo and distorted audio after the second verse of vaguely gay lyrics have you considered that ?!

#admit it if pete wentz's lyrics were sung by some white woman to plain ass slow piano music with max 3 cords yall would eat that shit up #but heaven forbid it be layered and/or vocally/musically compelling with a decibel count over 65.2 #or not sung by a climate criminal trying to sound emotional or weepy but actually sounds constipated 💀 #icarus' random screaming #icarus' burning life stories #anti taylor swift #im probably slicing my palm open for a demonic ritual in shark infested waters by doing this but oh well #pete wentz #fall out boy #icarus falls out #not even just fall out boy. I'll put on the tamest led zepplin or rage against song i can find and they look at me like 😶😣😖😨😰😱😵 #i put on eat your young they ASK then i try explain the critique of war profiteering/capitalism and theyre like silly ***** readin too deep #LIKE YOU ASKED. I KEPT IT SO SIMPLE. YOUR FELLOW SWIFTIES LOVE THIS SHIT WTF #im scared to try and bring up mitski (esp. working for the knife/best american girl) lest i kill my own friends #like they're not insane conspiracy swifities and i love them dearly but they're fundamentally tiktok youth gen z and im... not :/ #and im fine with it we joke and laugh about it and poke fun at each other for it but sometimes i feel so alienated #not on purpose. not by them. but i look at em and they look like test tube babies (not mean). #they look to me like what ginny & georgia looks like to them. too polished too stylised too... Just So #sometimes they look like the same lifeless tiktok copy and pasted and it scares me #im trying to remember that post about how tiktok thirst traps and general posts are so set up and stilted they look sexless #and robotic #anyway #the generational gap between me and my fellow teens/young adults 💀💀💀

[calmthefrontdoor]

What if Everyone Had a Normal Job and Just Played D&D Together on the Weekends AU

Hera is the panicked DM

Kepler (Aasimar Oath of Conquest Paladin) and Jacobi (Halfling Artillerist Artificer) are having a macho pissing contest

Maxwell (Elven School of Enchantment Wizard) and Lovelace (Tiefling Mastermind Rogue) are actually strategizing and putting a plan together

Hilbert (Lizardfolk Knowledge Domain Cleric) and Eiffel (College of Eloquence Bard) are having a rules debate that will be absolutely meaningless in 2 turns

and Minkowski (Dwarven Battlemaster Fighter) is not so patiently waiting for her turn

#also yes Lovelace CAN give the Help action as her bonus action because that is a subclass feature of the Mastermind Rogue #I was halfway through when I drew this and knowing what I know now I would make Lovelace a Changeling and Jacobi a Goblin #Jacobi is only a halfling because he gets to reroll those nat 1s and NOT because he's 'just a lil guy' no matter what Maxwell says #I had Sarnax in mind from Legend of Avantris Curse of Strahdanya where his heals fucking hurt when I thought of Hilbert being a cleric #Dmitri would have been DM when they started bc he was the only one who played before but he made a comment about being a forever DM so #Hera took on the mantle. Sometimes he'll do one-shots with innocent silly sounding premises and everyone ends up genuinely traumatized #i was gonna make this a bit neater and color it but then I got really lazy and no longer felt like figuring out perspective #wolf 359 #hera #warren kepler #daniel jacobi #alana maxwell #isabel lovelace #doug eiffel #alexander hilbert #dmitri volodin #renee minkowski

[sketchy-tour]

The welcome home site had an update!? Oh no I'm still on vacation and now I'm forced to wait a few days before getting to explore the new stuff!!!

*shaking my silly cage bars but the cage is actually a nice cabin and I'm literally not trapped* djsjdjskskkd

#text post #just rambling #I pop on my phone for a few seconds sometimes during small downtime and saw the posts about it! #and its HALLOWEEN STUFF AUGH I WANNA LOOK SO BAD #But i wouldn't be able to REALLY experience it unless I was home on my computer #exploring on my phone with my crappy broken earbuds while exhausted from activities does not sound appealing #first world problems strike again fjsnfjkwkdkwkdkskfndjbfnfjskd #OKAY OKAY BUT ALL OF YALL THAT CAN LOOK AT IT HAVE FUN FOR ME UNTIL I GET TO #Im having a blast on vacation by the way!! so much silly stuff. Went to an aquarium! took SO many pictures of fish. #its funny cause we went other places too but MOST of my pictures are fish.

[get-back-homeward]

The following day, two of the Beatles were sitting in the Kardomah café. Their Wednesday-night Cavern residency was preceded this week by a lunchtime session, and John and Paul were still in the habit of staying in town on such days, idling away afternoons in “the KD.” This time they were chatting to one of John’s old mates from art school, who then said, “I believe Brian Epstein is managing you—which one of you does he fancy?” It was just a bit of lads’ banter, something that often came up behind Brian’s back, along with digs about him being Jewish. Nothing more would have been said about it if one of the two Beatles (or both) hadn’t then relayed the comment to Brian’s face. He was mortified. It was a stain on his character; it was combustible, in view of homosexual acts being illegal; and, because he was still denying this side of his life to the Beatles, it was a direct challenge for him to respond. Forty-eight hours later, Brian turned the matter over to his lawyer; and seven days after passing the comment, John’s friend from art school was dumped deep in it.

We have been consulted by Mr. Brian Epstein who instructs us that on the February 21st last in the Kardomah Café, Church Street, Liverpool, you uttered a certain highly malicious and defamatory statement concerning him to two members of the Beatles. We are instructed that in the course of a conversation you said, “I believe Brian Epstein is managing you. Which one of you does he fancy?” The unwarranted innuendo contained in that remark is perfectly clear and is one to which our client takes the gravest possible exception and the damaging nature of which has caused him considerable anxiety and distress. He is not prepared to tolerate the utterance of such remarks by you and we accordingly have to require that we receive by return your written apology together with an undertaking that this or similar remarks will not be made by you in the future.

The apology and undertaking arrived by return of post and that was the end of the matter—but it was another hard and damaging episode for Brian.

From Tune In (Ch. 25: Feb 6–Mar 8, 1961)

#brian epstein #eppy and the boys #john and paul #tune in #mark lewisohn #read this over a year ago and then had trouble finding it again #so i’m copying to save here #in my head i short handed it as a cease and desist letter for a rent boy joke #lawyers and the beatles #the most interesting thing is that j&p mention it to brian #lewisohn implies its pauls doing but i can see either or both using this as an early test of brian #more like brian people are saying x what are you gonna do about it #its silly lewisohn keeps up this idea of the boys not knowing when brian brings them to a gay bar in london nye 1961 #i doubt they were clueless #but even if they were cool with it telling brian means they werent cool with the resulting implication people might have #i sometimes think thats what was behind the homophobic sounding jokes john lobbed at brian in the presence of reporters #eppy and john #i feel like its always a big part of why paul will always deny barcelona #eppy and paul #kardomah cafe #reading tune in #1962 #fic bunny #spring 62 is such a precarious time #i believe this lines up with the timing of the nutting story too

[grapecaseschoices]

are we going back to the early aughts? what is with this new (ancient) trend of if wips where gender selectable is only m/f?

#grapecase vents #idr my tag lmao #grapecase complains #? #it's so -- #if you're gonna do that why not have one character that is just nb or more #it rubs me even worse when the mc cant be nonbinary #i dont think nonbinary is a third magical gender [which is why i love it best when games is like okay character can be m/f/agender or #m/f/demi. or even better character b is f or nonbinary and character z is demi-girl/boy or agender. and they mix up the pronoun titles/ #names. like it isnt all they all. and fine sometimes it is. idk if im making sense. ignore me. im cis so maybe i shouldnt be this annoyed #bc my knowledge is limited but i dont see how knowledge and understanding can be expanded by doing the most normative of things #and it's worse bc i bet all these m/f ros are all cis #idk idk this sounds like a silly annoyance in retrospect when there ae actual things in life to be annoyed about [i am] and there are thing #i actually know about to be annoyed over. it just feels ... weird and ick to me [and dismissive?] #also gonna be out here with 30 ros who are all cis m/f? #boring #and mc is also cis m/f? ew.

[foolishnpd]

I feel like I need to come to terms with the fact that I'm just an overly selfish person, as much as I try my best, I will always always make something about myself in one way or another

#lilyroaring #npd safe #narcissistic personality disorder #even if I do care for others as well #there's always the other half of me thinking 'but what about ME' #as much as my attention and care extends to others #I'll always be thinking of myself first #even if it's like my comfort over someone else's extreme pain #my comfort takes more priority #what about me it's unfair to me why aren't you thinking of me why isn't this about me 🥺 #always like that -_- #haha sometimes I deliberately avoid even using the word 'I' or 'Me' #just so I don't SOUND selfish at least #but then I end up feeling selfish and silly because what sort of selfless person needs to avoid mentioning themselves #like I really do just make things about myself so often I can't even use first person pronouns 😭 #babygirl if we weren't talking about me before we are now :) #... I could spend time feeling like a bad person for thinking this way #but I sacrifice so much of myself for others #that surely it's fine #I can indulge in being selfish #I'll take what I can get because myself is all I fucking have #I'm the one that matters aren't I~ #it's not the worst trait I could have surely #it's better to embrace being a selfish entitled fucking brat than spend time agonizing over it

[hylianane]

i really dont like using my blog to vent or complain cause idk thats not what social media is about to me its just a space to be silly about the things i like. that being said. im just gonna do a mini vent in the tags abt smth that isnt even half as serious as im making it sound

#Listen. i found live action Zoro jarringly serious and edgy at times. Very juvenile. But its very telling to me that the ppl complaining- #-the loudest abt his characterization and scenes with luffy are the same zosan shippers constantly putting him down in their works #genuinely every other fic is filled to the brim with characters constantly talking down to him like a toddler and mocking him #and even telling Sanji shit like omg youre so brave for being in love with him it must be so difficult #and suddenly as a reader Im not rooting for the relationship im rooting for Zoro to get better friends #so like are you guys SURE opla zoro is this edgy oc or does it seem that way bc you flanderize him just as much in the opposite direction #taking his goofy scenes and exaggerating them to make him seem barely functional #when in the anime he IS competent and people trust him and find him very cool when he drops badass lines all of the sudden #sometimes he even actively tries to be cool and edgy. its not rare or unheard of. we were all there when he started posing in the wax #its the execution of these traits in the LA that seem juvenile and jarring and OOC but lets not pretend like the guy youd find- #-on ao3 is better written or accurate to animanga zoro at all. the criticism itself is valid but from some zosan guys it sounds silly #youll notice casual or non shipper fans tend to rlly like LA Zoro and thats because fanon can truly TRULY be a disease #i’ve had this opinion of fanon zoro for a while but just seeing him pitted against opla zoro really brought back my unhappiness with him #if i had to pick between the two of them…

[lale-txt]

the sweet feeling when you’ve been pondering on an idea forever and finally have a vision how to execute it properly… like a ball of yarn unraveling before your eyes ahhh

#in other words: lawyer man take your pants off at the door bby 🗣️ #it’s fun! thinking about stories is fun! #it sounds silly but sometimes i gotta remind myself that writing is something that’s to be enjoyed #not just the finished product but the whole process #it wasn’t my year but i’m really relieved that i can end it on good terms writing wise 🥹 #lale.txt

[the-busy-ghost]

Petty rant this morning- I can understand that somtimes even the nicest noises can be a nuisance, even painful, and believe me I have become cranky about all sorts of innocuous noises at the wrong time.

That being said, I have heard a surprising number of people complain about bellringers practising, when they moved into a house next to a mediaeval English church

#Oh I'm sorry we'll just move this twelfth-century bell tower somewhere that doesn't irritate you #Can it sometimes be a rather awful cacophony? Yes but they only get better if they practise #And even the worst noise of bells (from the distance of neighbouring houses not the tower) is better than car engines and drunk arguments #And bellringing is such a magnificent piece of craft and tradition; it's worth preserving even above and beyond any religious role #Though to be fair all the bellringers I've met seem to hold bellringing as their chief religion and are indifferent at best to the church #So it's not even that much of a reminder of Christianity imo #Thouhg I suppose people could disagree #Anyway church bells were one of the best things about living in the south of England #Even when they were rattling away very untidily #I miss them so much being back in Scotland where we only have a handful of towers at best #and certainly don't have the longstanding tradition of ringing in small churches #I have to get my kicks from the Tolbooth clock and let me tell you it just isn't the same as hearing an English bell tower ringing up #Let alone actually ringing the changes #It's one of the few genuinely wholesome English traditions and you want to whine about the sound of BELLS #Not because it's a sensory issue or anything just because you don't like your lie-in being interrupted #But you'd expect your neighbours to put up with your noisy barbecues #Actually never even mind disruptive events like that- in my opinion the noise of your silly car idling in the driveway is worse than bells #You trying to fit your massive SUV down the tiny streets of a small English village #Is always worse than plain hunt

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

Lu I would die for you you already know that

well FRICK Gracie you know I'd die for you too. but like how about we both keep on living. that's a kind of love too

#I was joking about confessing undying love but like lowkey this is an excuse for ME to tell YOU of my undying love for you ngl #and while I'm being really really open and cheesy on main here for a second can I just say #that time you blacked out your account and considered disappearing made me realize how much I never want to see you go #I'm so so grateful you're in my life you're literally one of my favorite people and I'm so glad God stuck us on this silly website together #I know it sounds dumb and cheesy when I say it bc it's literally from a fall out boy song but sometimes other people's words #just work better so I'm gonna say it anyway: you're the sunshine of my lifetime <3 #ok I'm done being sappy now shfkshfs #Lu rambles #asks #<3

[mewlingkittenz]

ughhhh I need to fuck myself properly again sometime. crave ittt. I fuckin hate denial n little teases n having to be.. "patient" or whatever??

like what do you MEAN it makes me more desperate n needy?!? I just end up getting bored and loosing interest in both sex n people lol

i am the most desperate, needy n pathetic when I'm getting fucked properly, it's starting to get a lil overwhelming, everything feels so good, I'm getting off to something filthy I know I shouldn't, THATS me being properly subby n soft n wanting to do whatever to feel good 😤😤

#Am I sounding too bratty in this lmao #possibly #it's not a good look I know I know #but sometimes you just gotta get that frustration out of your body ya know? #you can always take you frustration out on me of course 💕💕 #nhh need to get bruised n abused n fucked silly

[lunarharp]

outside the sanctum of lady edelgard's parlour - that birthplace of so many plots through the years - how absurd it seems. but now several seasons since the long war's end, needs be that someone go to leicester. the gesture has grown necessary, and ultimately, it does have to be him.

"and you. I want you with me," is how hubert concludes. simple is best, perhaps. ferdinand sits very still before him, hand over mouth. "look - this was never my idea. but I also can't downplay your role. I hope I've elucidated how valuable your presence would be."

"you - you really have. I," and he takes a strong sip of wine, then another. (hubert pours a generous replacement.) "excuse me." he then moves to the adjoining room, and paces rapidly for a good many minutes.

this is as difficult for me as it is for you, is what hubert longs to call, fingers pressed to his temple. but he has already put that mortification aside out of necessity, and his duty now is to affect total calm. he must not distract from the seriousness of the endeavour, nor the confidence lady edelgard has imparted in them.

ferdinand doesn't need to know that he needed a full day to process the idea.

 "hubert, dorothea once confided in me a worry. that if I were to wish you marry, whosoever I commanded you take as your partner you would accept. well, I ask you now to put on the act."

a ~17k T-rated ferdibert fic for the “fake dating” prompt 🧡 🖤

link!

#fe3h tag #ferdibert #brought to you by being like #fake dating? 🙄 i could never enjoy that..don't get it..sounds awkward..how would it even work... #the only way i can see it working is...yes and then... *writes 17k feverishly* yeah it'd have to be like that. :) #read ma silly little tale if you want a silly and nice little time. it's so NOT mentally ill like my normal stuff i promise #it's just FUN..... just some repressed romantic fun i say....... god sometimes that is soooo valid #i think this is the first time i've written not to Process Something but just to have FUN....... #i'm in a sorrowful mood today so i'm going to reread it myself. let me know if u like it and have a nice visit 💗 #i never thought i'd write so much for them again idek what happened. i even wrote claude and marianne. they just came to me. my friends

[nyxtalksmusic]

My entire life it's running away too fast Watching everyone I've ever loved walk past Never really quite getting the knack of Knowing no one will Ever come back for you

#Pruning Shears #Love Run #the amazing devil #'We do each other's laundry in our hearts sometimes' brb sobbing #ok official lyrics have it 'will not ever' but i CANNOT hear it #ive listened to live versions. it sound like will ever so im writing it this way its my silly little music blog i can do what i want