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You're listening to Away with Words. I'm Grant Barrett.

And I'm Martha Barnett.

If you're a writer who's dreamed of getting published, then you may have tried to find yourself a literary agent.

Now, that's a tough process. I've been through it.

You slave over your manuscript or proposal, and then you finally send it off, and then you spend all this time biting your nails waiting to hear back.

But just for a moment, pity the poor literary agent who's digging through that huge slush pile of submissions each week.

They're looking for that needle in a haystack effort that just might sell.

Well, I have a whole new appreciation for the work of literary agents now, thanks to a blog. It's called Slush Pile Hell. And the blogger's taken pains to remain anonymous. He describes

himself simply as one grumpy literary agent. That way, that's all, all grumpy literary.

They're all grumpy. Yeah, isn't that kind of redundant? Well, each week, this person takes snippets from the 10 or so worst queries he's received that week,

and he posts them online, along with his grumpy, snarky remarks.

And they're just snippets.

They're no names used, so nobody gets embarrassed.

But they're really instructive, not to mention hilarious.

I'll give you an example, Grant.

Recently, one would-be author wrote, not that I would compare myself to Hemingway, but if you read my novel, you'll see that it's as brilliantly simple as the old man in the sea, as poetic as the sun also rises, and as epic for whom the bell tolls.

And the agent's response is, well, at least you didn't compare yourself to Hemingway.

I love it.

What's the name of that blog?

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