The School of Writing

First let me update you on my querying process.

As you know, I've sent 8 queries: 1 in April and 7 in May.


Here are my stats:

1 Full Request
1 Partial Request
4 Rejections
2 Still Waiting

The rejections, with the exception of one, were kind of expected, if not totally understandable. I can't believe how cool I am with someone telling me my baby is ugly...lol. Okay, well not really, although one of those requests could end that way.

Whenever an email comes in I either rush to check it or am slow to open it. This is a trip. But I love every second of it.

One thing I've learned is how important research is. Writers need to plan every step. Decide exactly who you will query and why it's a good idea. Not because they rep one of your favorite authors or someone who made millions off their books, but because you know they will love your baby as much as you do. It's kind of like an adoption process. You want to make sure the person you choose has all the right credentials...for you and yours.

When I look at my stats this rings true. Of the 8 agents I queried, there is only one who rejected my query that I thought might be interested. The other rejections were all long shots, and I won't do that next time. I'll have more respect for my work and query only those who truly have the potential to appreciate it. Otherwise I'm wasting my time and theirs. If all writers just send queries to "dream agents" or "top agents" or "long shots" can we be surprised that the slush pile is so big? And that it's so difficult to get noticed?

Of course rejections may still come from those that seem right for the project, but at least from that you'll learn something. Maybe the market isn't right. Maybe your query isn't up to snuff. Perhaps your writing isn't.

The querying process is a learning process. Hell, writing is. After everything we've endured just writing our manuscript, querying the opportunity to test the waters, see if you've got what it takes and what find out what else you can improve on. I used to sit in front of a blank screen and cloud my head with ideas of what might be the next big thing. Now I just write. I use life, experiences, good and bad, to create unique stories. Stories that I can relate to. It's no longer about what's hot. It's about what's me.

When I first started to take creatively writing seriously, decided that I wanted to get published, I said:

"I'll try. I'll write a book. I'll try to get an agent. If it doesn't work out, I'll quit."

I've come a long way since then. This isn't just a dream I'm chasing. It's the thing I love. My escape from a bad day and the thing that is always guaranteed to make me smile. I've learned more than I ever could have imagined. And I doubt I'll ever quit now.

For Revisions Sake!

So just as I finish up the fourth draft, and take a leap of faith and send off one query, I come up with an annoyingly great idea. An idea that will require at least another week of revisions (she says, steam pouring from her ears).

This whole thing started with a dream last night. I'll admit, I'm a little bit of a geek. So, of course, I'm one of the many subjects of Geek God, Joss Whedon. With the new Avengers movie coming out, I decided to revisit Buffy. The first episode and Buffy's introduction to Sunnydale reminded me so much of my character's plight. The dream had nothing to do with the plot or the show, but it did have to do with querying (Which does tie in to the Joss Whedon thing, I promise). In my dream, I queried an agent who suggested I send my work to a different agent he was sure would love it.

As things go with dreams, I didn't remember this name until later this morning. My first thought was "Yeah, right, this is so not his thing. Mr. Agent is too cool for this." So I pushed it out of my mind (You see, he isn't just cool, he's, like, Joss Whedon cool).

Anyway, I decided to do a little research on Mr. Agent and realized that there were some things we had in common. Number one is our fave author. That still wasn't enough to convince me, I couldn't justify putting that in the query letter because her writing and my manuscript aren't much alike. She's just awesome. And while we both agree on that, it's not enough to warrant us working together. So I read his Literary Rambles entry and any other interviews I could find. I finally did a quick review of his bio on the agency website and found a little disclaimer that gave me somewhat of an angle. It's a weak angle, but an angle nonetheless.

So I'm sitting there, personalizing the query, coaching myself to just get on with it. Send it and see what happens (even though I promised in my last post I wasn't sending anything else until I've determined the result of my first one :P). And, all of a sudden, I get this idea. One that will make the plot so much  better. More realistic, but not change it too much. The revision involves turning one character into a group of characters (I'll be using inspiration from another dream for this part). I'll also be giving another character more face time. I'm getting started on it today.

Wish me luck :)

Foot Soak Update :)

So a few weeks ago, I posted my intention to finally submit one of my manuscripts. I said I'd send it out on or before March 14th. Well, not quite :) I may have jumped the gun a little :P

I sent it off for beta last Friday and I'm not planning on sending out queries until sometime in April, (probably near the end).

Just wanted to give you and update. I haven't forgotten about it and I'm not pretending that previous post doesn't exist :) Sure, I'm a little behind schedule but the plan is still in motion.

I will not chicken out!