It’s done! Give the Lady a Ride has now been sent in query form to each agent I got excited about while researching my options. I’ve already received rejection notices from some, which is fine. I expected that. I even got a nibble from one I’m excited about, but I have no idea when I’ll hear from him again. Or any of the others, for that matter. Responses could take from two to sixteen weeks. And some agents won’t even bother to tell you your piece was deleted into the Trash Bin after they read the first paragraph of the letter.

They don’t have time.

Agents are busy. Imagine “me” multiplied by thousands. So many people have written books that they believe will be the next big hit. And those query letters like mine are landing in agents’ computers all across America. The poor man/woman who chose this business comes in Monday morning and opens their computers to voices screaming, “Read me! Read me!” And this is just one aspect of their jobs. Agency is a high-energy, high-adrenaline career. How they don’t collapse from sheer exhaustion every night is beyond me. Who knows? Maybe they do.

Because of the competition out there, every time I poked the “send” on an e-mailed query, I prayed over the submission packet. “Lord, I’m getting the book out there. What happens to it is up to You. I accept any result You consider to be in my best interest.”

There’s nothing to do now but wait. And do my research for the sequel!

I’m excited about the research. One of the issues I’ll address in Roping Venus will be about horse rescue. I know of three rescue ranches that are accessible to me, and each seems to have a different philosophy and purpose. One rescues mustangs from the wilds of Western America where their numbers are so high they are considered a nuisance. Another rescues horses from neglectful and abusive situations, probably involving people who thought they wanted a horse and didn’t have a clue how to care and provide for one. The last ranch rescues horses from auction barns. This one confuses me. At one time, a horse in an livestock auction barn was heading to the packing plant to become dog food. From what I understand, the packing plants have been shut down in America. So what happens to horses auctioned away?

As I did in Give the Lady a Ride, I want to give a voice to those involved in ranching and rodeo. So many misconceptions exist these days, and the more I research, the more I realize that the rugged lifestyle of the American Cowboy is in danger.

Recently, I read an article about author “branding”:  associating ourselves and our books with particular concepts to make us more identifiable to the readers. “Branding” is another word for pidgeon-holing, I guess. If you’re looking for this pidgeon, try “Christian,” “Western,” and “Romance” . . . in that order.