No Writing But Still Connecting

This one is short and sweet as I think I’m coming down with a major cold or maybe even the flu – I feel like crap and working on The Balance when I feel this way would not be a good idea. Thursday & Friday (6/19-20) through my dance network (at a callers college) the main instructor bought a coy of The Blood from me. I am the first person he has met who has actually published a book! He was fascinated by the whole process. He has a friend who is doing final edits on her romance manuscript – she called me today and we talked about my experience so far and whether or not she should continue to try to connect with an agent. She wants to get published through a particular publisher but they only take agented manuscripts. She wanted to know how many agent rejections or “black holes” she should collect before going the independent route. How many would you suggest? Would you suggest an agent – should I?

I suggested she join a local critique group, a national organization such as Romance Writers of America, and that she research self publishing. Anything else I should suggest to her?