A Writer's Crush

Now, I am married (rather newly - 9/25/10) and madly in love with my spouse, but I'll let you in on a secret: I sorta met someone at SCBWI North Cal's Spring Spirit Conference that I have a crush on. A mad, dizzying, can't-stop-thinking-about-their-smile type crush. Only, it's not a romantic crush. It's an agent crush. And if I'm honest, it's not my first. And it may not be my last. But for right now I have an agent crush on Quinlan Lee.

Quinlan Lee works for Adams Literary, a boutique literary agency that specializes in children's and young adult authors headquartered in Charlotte, NC. She critiqued the first page of my novel adaptation at the conference. She used the sandwich method (I like how Meghan Ward covers this in her article "How to Critique Other Writers' Work") so despite the fact that it was my first semi-public critique in fifteen years, it wasn't too hard to take. In fact, it was inspiring and I know my manuscript is already better from it.

The thing is, Quinlan did this for somewhere between 20 and 30 people just like me all in the space of an hour. She picked up each page, read it aloud with a spirited voice, and then critiqued it instantly-- her passion for her work showing in every nuance she extracted from the words. It was an impressive feat and I can't really blame myself for being smitten. Now I'm nearly obsessed with the charming idea of someday being represented by a boutique agency.