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John
Searles
 It
took me about four years or so. I didn't write every day, though,
because I was working during the time and writing/editing magazine
articles. Usually I woke up early in the mornings and wrote before
going into my office at Cosmopolitan, which was not easy because
I am not a morning person. I also took a leave of absence from the
magazine for three or four months and I lived out of the city. I
got A LOT of writing done during that time. It was heavenly.
Back in the early '90s, I was sending my work to
agents and getting nice responses but no one who wanted to take
me on.Then I drove to Rhode Island to hear Wally Lamb read. My former
professor, Ann Hood, had organized the event and there was a dinner
beforehand. In my memory, there were all these published writers
at the table, and then little old me --- fresh out of grad school,
waiting tables and writing at night. I am a huge fan of Wally's,
and She's Come Undone is one of my favorite books of all-time,
so I was completely star-struck during the dinner and listened more
than I talked. Then Wally offered to give me a ride to the reading,
and in the car I got up the courage to confess that I was a fledgling
writer. To my surprise and delight, he offered to read my work.
I sent him a few chapters from an earlier book I had written before
Boy Still Missing, and he contacted me a few months later
saying that he liked it and wanted to put me in touch with his agent.
A while later, his agent called and said she wanted to represent
me. She is still my agent today. I wrote a first book that NEVER
sold, so I guess you can say it took an eternity in that case. But
I was very lucky and blessed with Boy Still Missing. My agent
sold it in a matter of days based on the first 120 or so pages.
The best part was that it was totally unexpected so I didn't have
to go through the anxiety of waiting and rejection that I did the
first time around.
I guess my professor at N.Y.U. had told me what it
would be like. But I was very naive and dreamy; so I didn't really
get how long it would take and that there would be so many low moments.
And believe me, there were A LOT of low moments with no money or
one unforgettably nasty letter about my first book that had been
inadvertently left in the manuscript when it was returned to me.
But I just kept going because it was the only thing I wanted to
do. And thankfully, there were a lot of high moments, too. My professor,
Ann Hood, was a great friend and a big believer right from the start.
Wally's kindness meant so much. Also, there were good friends who
stood by me and didn't call me a loser behind my back!
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