I got the short list back from the lovely people at AR&E, agent-finders at large.
I also got a very nice letter saying I should try all of them at once, just for the ego boost. I'm sorry, Beverly, but all the ego boosting in the world is not worth one atom of being rude.
Agents and writers alike tell you every day that simultaneous submissions, especially lying about it by omission, is beyond nasty. Just. No. The letter says I don't have to say it's a trawl for attention, so I therefore don't have to mention that I'm taking them alphabetically.
Now I just have to finish reading the reports, start at the letter A, and juggle the material I send. However, nothing is stopping me mentioning that AR&E recommended them and letting them draw their own conclusions...
And in other news... the continuing saga of #myphonebygoogle.
We finally triumphed over the whole file transfer debacle with a lovely file transfer app called trolCommander and rigging up a cable relay system to make my phone look like an external drive.
Geeks. We're unstoppable.
I'm now using VLC instead of the streaming Google Play and I should really cancel my subscription to Google Play RSN... I don't want to get bit on the arse by subscription fees four months down the line.
And in other, other news...
Yesterday I decided, "What the hell" and ripped on the biggest bitch I ever knew when I was a grotty sprog. I spent three paragraphs on her sins and I might have people who share her name hating on me, but... it felt so wonderful to get that off my chest.
The resulting euphoria lasted two whole hours before I started getting anxiety about lawsuits. Or angry retribution. So, at some later chapter, I might write a sympathetic angel of a name-sharer so I can point and say, "Not all YourNames," in the same smug condescension that some folks say, "Not all men."
I might not. It depends. Thinking about turning the bitch's own words back on her is currently too delicious to try and wimp out on it. My body and brain will eventually find something else to be anxious about. I have well-worn ways to defeat those monsters. Including using them for some truly visceral writing.
My mantra to them goes: You can't grind me down. I've already been tempered and polished. All you provide is power to my mill.
My monsters plague only me, for the most part. Once I've figured out how to live with them, I make them work for me.