Literary Agent DIY Search + Aqua Yoga ala Janina Edwards + Podcast

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Research, research, and more research — is required to find a good literary agent — that, and a lot of luck so, fingers crossed, please wish me boatloads of it. As you might already know or guessed, I’m looking for one to help promote my books (about them here).

Thus far, here’s the search and solicit basics I’ve learned. Though I can’t truly vouch for them, they sound good, no? Note: these concern adult literary fiction only:

1. Yay, the fun part is read a lot, a lot, a lot. (More on this later.)
2. Write the full book.
3. Polish it until it gleams, and then polish it some more.
4. Read books like yours. Ones published within the last ten years that are written by first time authors.
5. Find out who represents those authors, via their ‘acknowledgement’ pages or google.
6. Research how to write: a) a great query letter that you’ll personalize for each agent, and b) an exciting tight synopsis.
7. Solicit many agents at the same time. That way maybe, just maybe, you’ll have the ultimate good fortune of being able to leverage multiple acceptance requests! a) All the better if they’re located in a publishing hub like NYC, where they hopefully regularly hobnob with (not just email and phone) industry folk on your behalf. b) The pros and cons of pitching big-gun agents vs. fledgling ones abound. Suffice to say, thoughtfully select who you approach.
8. There’s no harm in querying an agent whose website says they aren’t taking submissions. Chances are, their website is out-of-date anyway.

Basic as all this info is, it reassures me that I’m on the right track, and not a total dimwit for treading carefully. In a former acting life, three agents later I learned that even a mediocre one can be a hindrance.

With acting, I dusted myself off and recalibrated. A book is a whole ‘nother beast!

A book has one measly chance for it to be new! Once it’s ‘old’ and has been poorly promoted… well, let’s avert our eyes…

Let us return to the happy part; as I joyfully read, read, read, I’ve had the delicious good fortune of coming across Janina Edwards’s outstanding audiobook performance of “Royal Holiday” by Jasmine Guillory (which I reviewed here).

Turns out, Janina is more than a silky voice! When she’s not emoting depth into printed words, she’s doing bunches of other cool stuff, like teaching classical and restorative yoga in numerous studios in Georgia, as well as kayaking. An essayist and memoirist, she’s contributed essays to The Ethel, Nevertheless, She Persisted (Blunder Woman Productions), Paddle Georgia 2022: Chattahoochee Journey Starts Generational Love Affair With Rivers, and on the National Parks website. She is currently writing a memoir of her experiences as her parents’ caregiver for ten years.

Best of all for us, right this moment, she’s contributed today’s guest blog post on her dive into aqua yoga…

Do Mermaids Practice Yoga? by Janina Edwards

Family lore says that as a child I was crazy for swimming and swimming pools. I was so enthusiastic that on any family vacation our hotel was required to have a pool, ideally with a slide, otherwise six to ten-year old Janina would have an emotional melt down. Extra points to my parents for indulging that youngster! Adult me still loves water. I swim laps weekly and am a three-season kayak paddler—meaning I paddle spring, summer and fall in Georgia. I also paddle in the winter, but I usually travel somewhere where winter, and the water, is warmer. I think this qualifies me as a mermaid!

I’ve also played with yoga most of my life. My first yoga experience was with the PBS program Lilas, Yoga and You in the 1970s. My interest in yoga was pedestrian until my fifties, when a running injury forced me to focus my attention on low-impact physical activities. So, swimming and yoga took precedence. When I decided to go deeper and become a certified yoga teacher I applied and was accepted into Kashi Atlanta Ashram’s 200-hour yoga teacher training. Upon graduation, I became an official mermaid, who practices yoga.

What happens when mermaids become yoga practitioners? Well, they get in the water and play with yoga poses they can’t do on land. Arm balances I couldn’t do on the mat, I could approximate in the water. Water moves, but at the same time it holds and steadies you. The buoyancy of the water (the characteristic that makes you float) offloads 40% or more of your body weight, making it easier to do a lotus pose arm balance, for example. Crossed-legged with tucked feet, I pushed my submerged hands into the bench of the spa and lifted myself up.  “AHA! This is how it should feel on land, if I weighed less, and had no joint pain.” In deeper water in the pool, I enjoyed child’s pose—taking a deep breath, tucking knees into chest with my arms wrapped tightly around them, drawing my head into the ball. I floated and bobbed in the lap of water for a few minutes. “AHA! This is what it feels like when I allow myself to just be,” I gurgled. Running out of breath, I uncurled and became a walking mammal again.

Immersed in water, when you fall out of a yoga pose, the buoyancy and viscosity (the glutinous or resistant characteristic of water) protects you. You fall in slow motion, like an awesome fighter in a scene in The Matrix. On land, you crash, like a Wiley Coyote cartoon.

The first time I heard the phrase aqua yoga, I was intrigued. “I can get certified in that? Sign me up!”

Yoga—whether the physical poses, the deeper philosophical writings, or the focus on concentration/meditation—combined with aqua—cool, liquid, substance of life. What could be better? Well, if they incorporated a slide, THAT would be better!

In 2023 curiosity, finances, scheduling, and the need for yoga teacher continuing education credits aligned. I took an aqua yoga teacher certification class with Christa Fairbrother. She’s a recognized expert in aqua yoga. I read her book Water Yoga: A Teacher’s Guide to Improving Movement, Health, and Wellbeing. I drove down to St. Petersburg, FL for the weekend training and dove in.

First, I found out what aqua yoga is not.

Typically, aqua yoga is not doing hand stands or arm balances in the water!  That was disappointing. However, aqua yoga IS a viable, fun, beautiful way to practice yoga. Pregnant people, or people with Rheumatoid Arthritis, joint problems, or injuries enjoy aqua yoga. Water’s buoyance and viscosity allows them to safely practice yoga poses. People without obvious injuries or maladies can appreciate aqua yoga too!

In the aqua yoga training, I learned how to modify traditional yoga poses for the water (warrior poses, cobra, star, goddess); how to use water-friendly yoga props to work in the pool’s unique environment (foam yoga blocks, kick boards, straps, pool noodles, water dumb bells and flotation belts); and how to sequence aqua yoga poses for students’ optimal experience.

But just as important, I learned that in spirit it’s all the same yoga, whether on land or water. In all forms of yoga, we learn to move intentionally with awareness of our bodies, and tune into ourselves mentally.

“What am I experiencing in this moment, not projecting forward, not worrying about the past?”

Uniquely the water gives you physical feedback we often don’t experience on land. When I move my arm, my leg, my body, through water, there is a visceral sensation against my skin, a gentle drag. On land, if I pay attention, the air does a similar thing, but the water…it demands your attention.

Plus, water brings you back to basics. You become more peaceful just feeling that cool liquid christening your flesh, even with the happy (sometimes screaming) sounds of kids playing nearby as you attempt a water-based warrior pose.

So now I have this piece of paper that says I’m certified to teach aqua yoga, but I must be honest. I really just want to see if I can do a handstand in the water and find some other mermaids to come play with me.

How do you stay fit and have fun at the same time?