We have our first The Writer's Voice 2014 #TeamMonica FTW SUCCESS STORY!

I'm THRILLED to announce that Lisa Koosis, a member of my team on The Writer's Voice 2014, has signed with agent Brianne Johnson from Writers House! =) I'm so proud of you, Lisa! (And stay tuned, because there will be more good news for #TeamMonicaFTW soon!)

Here's her story in her own words:

I guess maybe I should start off with a confession: I entered the Writer’s Voice contest because I needed a deadline. I’d spent the prior six or seven months struggling through revisions of Resurrecting Sunshine (here’s where I skip the long portion of the story which involves tons of rejection, a smattering of encouraging feedback, a deal with my significant other, a writing conference, a lovely editor requesting revisions and…well, you get the idea) and I was finding myself stuck in the pits we writers know so well--indecision, self-doubt, procrastination, hopelessness--and I wasn’t getting anywhere fast.

What I needed, I realized, was a deadline. Something concrete. Something to force me to make choices and commit to changes rather than being all wishy-washy.

Then one day on Twitter, I saw a post about The Writer’s Voice, a contest I’d been in once before (with a different manuscript). I’d been picked by Krista for her team that year (thank you, Krista!), and it had been a great experience. (For the record, I came away that time without a single agent request.)  This, I thought, would be just the deadline I needed to crank through the last of my revisions, and in addition would make a great trial run for the changes I’d made to Resurrecting Sunshine.

I was thrilled when Monica picked me for her team, and my pitch went through a number of much-needed revisions until Monica and I both declared it ready. Still, I knew better than to pin too much hope on the contest. After all, I’d been doing this writing thing for a LONG time and had gotten nowhere.  (But more on that later.)

Much to my surprise, on agent day, I ended up with nine requests. Nine! And all from amazing agents. I couldn’t believe it.

One of those agents was Brianne Johnson from Writers House. She had asked specifically for the first 50 pages, so that’s what I sent. About 24 hours later, she requested the full manuscript. A day and a half after that, I came back from walking my dog to find an email with the subject: time to talk this afternoon?

I think I stopped breathing. What did that mean? Was this The Call? The call I’d never imagined would happen to me?

Indeed it was.  After over seven years of submitting and almost 200 queries (190 to be exact, not including like a zillion contest entries), spanning four separate manuscripts, I’d pretty much given up hope of ever taking that next step. And now, not only had I gotten The Call, but it was from an amazing agent, who really got my book and whose enthusiasm just vibrated over the phone line. 

When I hung up after having this unbelievable thing happen, with nobody else home to tell and my significant other unreachable, I danced with the dog and gave her way too many treats.

Within the week I received a second offer of representation, so I had the opportunity (also a bit of a curse) to choose from two fantastic agents, who both loved my book. It simply wasn’t possible to make a bad decision.

Ultimately I did make a choice, and I am incredibly, ridiculously, over-the-moon happy to be able to say I am now represented by Brianne Johnson of Writers House.  So thank you, The Writer’s Voice, and thank you, Monica (and all the other coaches, and the agents who generously give their time to participate) for giving writers this venue to get their work out there and for helping me to find my dream agent.