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Adrienne Benson

Goodreads Author

Born

Washington, DC, The United States

Genre

Fiction, Memoir, Travel

Member Since

April 2012

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What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Adrienne Benson Be tenacious! This holds for both writing the book and for getting it published. The road to publication for "The Brightest Sun" was neither fast nor …moreBe tenacious! This holds for both writing the book and for getting it published. The road to publication for "The Brightest Sun" was neither fast nor easy. When I began querying agents, I very hopefully created an excel spreadsheet to track who I'd sent it to and what their response was. I figured I'd have... maybe a dozen entries. Um, not even close! I began to think of it as "the excel spreadsheet of doom," because so many of my queries either went unanswered or came back as rejections. I couldn't decide which was worse--the definitive no, or the not knowing.

Anyway, I read a quote (and I can't remember where I read it, or who wrote it) but it said, "the only difference between an agented writer and an un-agented writer is one day." So, I decided I wouldn't be the first to quit. I continued working on the manuscript but also continued sending query letters. The 64th (yes, 64th!) agent sent me an email saying he'd love to read the manuscript, so I sent it to him. But I knew not to get my hopes up because others had also requested the full manuscript and then either ghosted me or passed on it.

Guess what? A week later I checked email while at a stop light (I know! Never do that!) and there was an email from him saying that he loved the book and wanted to sign me. After a million people honked at me from behind, I finally put my phone down and kept driving (sorry to those people!) I can't imagine if I'd decided 50 rejections was enough, or even 60. The take away is--have faith, keep working, and don't give up. (less)

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Adrienne Benson’s books

Average rating: 3.96 · 1,414 ratings · 165 reviews · 1 distinct work • Similar authors

The Brightest Sun

3.96 avg rating — 1,414 ratings — published 2018 — 3 editions

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Quotes by Adrienne Benson (?)

“At the end of the movie version of Out of Africa, when Karen Blixen is leaving Kenya, she says, “If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me?” I always cry at that point, because I know exactly what she means.”
― Adrienne Benson, The Brightest Sun: A Novel

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