For Writers

You’ve Received an Offer from an Agent. Now What?

By on June 30, 2025   /   For Writers, Publishing & Promotion  

Receiving an offer of representation from an agent is so exciting…especially after all your hard work. Celebrate! Then take some time to come up with important questions to ask before saying yes. Because not having an agent is better than having the wrong one for you and your career.

First Steps

Hopefully, you researched the agent before submitting, but there are times when you’ve received a critique, won a contest or an agent passed you on to another interested agent where you may not know enough about the agent. When they offer, thank them and let them know you’ll need two weeks to respond.

If you have queries or full manuscripts out with other agents, now is the time to contact them. If you’ve communicated via e-mail, reply in the thread but change the subject to OFFER OF REPRESENTATION. If you communicate through QueryManager, there’s a button to press to notify them of an offer. Give them two weeks to respond (even better if you can give them a deadline at least a day or two before you need to make your final decision, so you won’t feel too rushed).

Deciding Between Agents

I’m a huge fan of keeping a pro/con list for each offering agent. You can add to the list by:

  • Researching them online, in places like Querytracker.net and Publishers Marketplace (if they’re a new agent at an established agency, you can research the agency itself and make sure they have a mentor and the support they’ll need).
  • Asking them questions.
  • Chatting with their clients (hint: one of the most helpful questions to ask a client is what are one or two things you’d like to change about working with your agent).
  • Reading our Agent Spotlights.

Potential Questions to Ask the Agent

There are so many great questions you can ask! Have a list ready…but before you dive into it, realize that some may be answered while you chat. THE CALL can be such a wonderful blur, it’s good to take notes.

Here are some questions to consider asking:

  • How many editors do you submit to each round?
  • How often do you believe I’ll go out on submission rounds?
  • If I receive an editor request from a critique/conference/contest, would you send it to them?
  • How do you let me know where my manuscript is submitted and responses you receive?
  • Do you have publishers in mind for my novel? (They may not want to say the editor’s names at this point, but it’s nice to see if you have similar taste in houses.)
  • What’s your preferred method of communication with clients…and how long does it usually take you to respond?
  • Are there times when your communication might be less frequent?
  • At what stage would you like to know about future novels (share the idea before plunging in, after the first draft is finished, or after I’ve revised as much as possible)?
  • How many projects can I send you throughout the year?
  • Are you an editorial agent…and if so, how long does it typically take you to send feedback?
  • Do you plan to have me revise before submitting…and if so, ask for details to make sure you have the same vision for your book.
  • Have you cut clients, and if so…why?
  • How many editors do you submit to before giving up on a book?
  • If you aren’t able to agent for a period of time, what happens? (I don’t like asking this question, but it’s important to know. The agency that represents me pairs each agent with another one who can jump in and help clients, if needed. I hope it never will be necessary, but it’s good to know I’m covered.)

Final Tips

This can be an exciting, confusing, and stressful time…especially if you receive multiple offers. It often helps to chat about the agent/s with trusted critique partners and writing friends. After examining the pros and cons, listen to your gut. Does this feel right? Is the agent someone you can work with as a partner, without being afraid to ask questions or worrying they’ll drop you?

If you have additional questions, you can e-mail the agent or ask for another chat.

After all this, I hope you’ll sign with the most amazing agent for you and your career. And then…CELEBRATE!

Do you have any agent tips to add?

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Notes of Hope when the world is too much

By on June 28, 2025   /   For Teachers, For Writers, Teacher Tips, Writing  

When it seems like the world is just too much for our kids, when we witness hurt, fear, loneliness, a middle schooler’s loss of family or friends, it’s time to spread some hope. This is exactly how Libby, who comes from a long line of bullies, fights her reputation after finding a stone painted with the words Create the world of your dreams, in Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden. In searching for ways to create that world, Libby, a lonely and art driven middle schooler, sets off a chain reaction of notes of hope when she writes You are awesome on an index card and leaves it outside for someone else who might need a bolster to find.

My own decision to create Notes of Hope with my students came as a project at Mount Mary University to coincide a visit from Diana Chao, originator of Letters to Strangers, to speak about “the largest global youth-run nonprofit seeking to destigmatize mental illness and increase access to affordable, quality treatment, particularly for youth.”

Letters to Strangers, recognizing that it often takes one voice to raise us up, collaborates with student clubs on campuses to write anonymous, heartfelt letters to share vulnerabilities and offer support for others who fight through difficult times.

My class, a group of future teachers, social workers, art therapists, and communication majors, was studying Young Adult Literature. We focused that semester on the literature of mental health and hope. We created origami envelopes using craft cover stock and wrote and decorated notes with ribbons, drawings, and our messages. We wanted to spread the word that creating the world of your dreams, can happen one note of hope at a time. Our Notes of Hope were included as part of the centerpieces at the speakers’ lunch. But my students found the exercise so uplifting that they created over 100 notes and saved some for friends and family, and dropped many more throughout campus knowing the found notes would bolster someone’s day.

Notes of Hope created by students at Mount Mary University and St. Joan Antida High School in Milwaukee

I repeated this activity with a high school group at St. Joan Antida High School in Milwaukee, and again, the group experienced an amazing day of peaceful sharing as they designed their notes and wrote hopeful phrases. While I strongly encourage students to write their own words, they were allowed to share those of artists and authors. Although many students began with published words of wisdom, as they personalized their notes, they wrote their own words offering praise for strength and calm and supporting those who struggle with self- esteem and mental health issues. This is an activity that would surely be successful with all ages.

 

In preparing students for this activity, we read Braden’s novel and studied the work of Letters to Strangers. I also created a sample note with Emily Dickenson’s poem:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –

And sings the tune without the words –

And never stops – at all –

Notes of Hope isn’t the only effort to stamp out loneliness and bullying and hate. Author Braden developed the Local Love Brigade where Vermont residents send out postcards to support Vermonters experiencing hate. In an interview for the vt digger, Braden explained her motivation. “Love can be seen as a soft and gentle emotion, but it can also be fierce and strong and powerful. That’s really what we’re channeling here.”

I’d love to see what you and your students create to spread hope and create the world of your dreams. Drop me a line and I’ll post your photos. (aangel@aol.com).

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Growing As a Writer – the Power of Community

By on May 23, 2025   /   Articles, For Writers  

Growing As a Writer – the Power of Community

If you’ve ever seen one of those sped-up videos illustrators post online, maybe you know the kind – of their artwork going from blank canvas to finished masterpiece all in the span of 30 seconds – I LOVE those! And yet I always walk away thinking how cool it would be for us writers to have something comparable. 

What would our sped up video show? 

 

My first thought is of a writer alone at their desk, possibly hunched over a low lit keyboard while frantically typing away. My next thought is of a writer in a cafe, at a table for one, tucked snugly in the corner with a tea in one hand and a pencil in the other. But neither capture the whole picture – or in this case: video.

 

Consider what writing looked like in early grade school. So many of us writers have a neatly “crafted” book on a shelf in our home (mine was

published via a manilla folder and some pink yarn). Then jump to middle school when our next novel’s printing press came in the form of a spiral binding machine found in the teacher’s lounge. These books weren’t written by our younger selves left alone to our own devices in classrooms or in the cafeteria sipping from tiny chocolate milk cartons. Instead, we had amazing teachers instructing us in the process of beginnings, middle, and ends. They were our first editors, showing us how to tighten our pages. And they partnered us up with peers who critiqued our work – maybe pointing out a spelling mistake or laughing at a well placed joke. These teachers and classmates were our community. They were who we bounced story ideas off of, who we asked questions about plot to, and who we sought advice from.

 

Upon graduation, if you were like me, chances are your community faded. This might be why we hear writing is a solitary effort. But, with no one to gain feedback from, to talk craft with, discuss books or the writing world with, and even perhaps no one who “gets” this side of us, how are we to grow? 

I believe community is the secret sauce. 

 

Community challenges us by holding us accountable. It lifts us up when imposter syndrome rears its ugly head. And it champions us by connecting us with experts and professionals. 

 

When I went looking to find “my people,” as happy as I was to attend conferences and workshops, I was saddened to leave the party, so to speak. It felt like the fun was over, and once again so, too, was the community. If my 30-second sped-up video were to be a true representation of writerly growth, then community needed to be a constant.

 

So I had an idea! 

 

Together with my literary bestie, Valerie Heller, we created MuchAdoAboutWriting.com where writers get to hone their craft AND stay connected. In our four years of running weekly live calls, we’ve had the privilege of seeing members truly become community as they interact with and support each other, share ideas and pages, deepen their understanding of writing craft, own techniques and skills, take in feedback and understand how to implement it when drafting and revising, and even celebrate getting published.

 

And the fun is just beginning! Now it’s our turn to grow by offering even more to writers. So, on top of our teaching calls, interactive workshops, and editing nights, we’re adding daily events to get you thinking and conversing about story on a deeper level through prompts, sprints, games, weekly eyes on pages, and much more.

 

As I round out my 30 second video, a HUGE shout out to Jon and Laura at https://writeforkids.online/ who are our biggest cheerleaders and collaborators in building this community’s offerings. We’re teaming up with them, and are inviting all the readers at From the Mixed Up Files to join us in a live webinar as we take you behind the scenes of The Insiders Coaching Club on Wednesday, May 28th at 8pm ET. Follow this link to sign up for the call: https://writeforkids.lpages.co/icc1/ 

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