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Welcome to The Literary Pig's blog - a safe haven for all those afflicted with
the unbearable urge to write.

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Shrӧdinger’s Agent

Sometimes over dinner it feels like I live with the characters of The Big Bang Theory as the conversation often turns to mathematics or physics (Handsome Hubby and the Tame Teenager are both engineers). One topic I do enjoy is discussing Shrӧdinger’s Cat - a theorectical experiment often used to explain  quantum mechanics (read here for a Wikipedia explanation). In a short play of mine called 'Pandora's Cat' a character gives a simpler explanation: "Schrödinger was a physicist. To explain quantum mechanics he came up with a paradoxical question where a cat is put in a box containing a vial of poison. The poison can be released at any time, but without opening the box you can’t be certain if the cat is alive or dead. At any given moment you have to consider both states of existence are plausible: the cat is both alive and dead."

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you will know that I've recently completed a final draft of my novel. I've edited and reworked after feedback and comments from several beta readers (all great writers I've met at Chichester University on my MA in Creative Writing). I've also been lucky enough to get some constructive and helpful comments from a couple of agents (gold dust!). In the last week I've started the painful task of contacting literary agents to gauge if anyone is interested in taking on the novel. This got me thinking that once I'd emailed or posted the sample chapters then the concept of Shrӧdinger’s Agent kicks in. At any given moment the agent could be reading or not reading my novel. At any given moment the agent could be considering to offer representation or not and until you get 'that' email then both states of existence are plausible: they both love and hate the novel! Not much to cling to but it's cheered me up.

We don't have a cat, but my lovely friend Sarah Thompson has kindly given permission for me to use a photo of her gorgeous boy, Morpheus. He is of course posing in a box ...

Poor Morph is not too well at present and being treated by the Supervet, so sending lots of love and best wishes from me and LitPig xxx