03/23/2014
Janet Rundquist (ProfeJMarie on QT) has signed with agent Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, LLC.
I liked the idea of showing how a family can come back together after a death instead of falling apart. Julie’s character came to me first, then her relationship to her brother.
Also, if you happen to accept representation while you still have queries out, send out that email that indicates you are withdrawing it for consideration (and of course with those who have any part of your manuscript, I hope that is a given). I received more replies (and fast) with that courtesy than I would have guessed. To me, this meant that agents appreciated that foresight and respect for their time.
Julie Mercer donated her eggs to help her brother and sister-in-law conceive via in-vitro fertilization, never expecting that a few years later, she would have to take full responsibility for those children after they lose their parents in a car accident.
Julie has never even wanted children, and now she must make room in her small apartment for the four-year-old twins, Lucy and Mikey, whom she has only ever even met once. Her sister doubts Julie is up for the task, her father wants her to contest her brother’s will, her boss threatens to fire her if she can’t make her new situation work, and something feels off with the new daycare she’s found for the kids. Meanwhile, Lucy and Mikey present their own challenges with one throwing intense tantrums and the other not talking at all.
Then Grant, the twins’ uncle – and also their biological father – shows up at her door, saying he wants to help. The timing of his arrival troubles Julie as she tries to determine if his intentions are sincere or if he has a hidden agenda to fight for custody. Struggling with her own role as aunt or mother, she must determine if her brother and sister-in-law really did make the best decision with entrusting their kids to her.
Instant Rice [now titled As Though You Were Mine], women’s fiction, is complete at 117,000 words.