On Monday, I did it. I finally came out of the closet to all of my friends and family... the writer's closet, that is. I figured that if I'm serious about publication, then I need to start building up a support base. A lot of close friends already knew that I was writing or had written a book, but I had always held back most of the details for what equates to little more than prideful reasons. Writing is very personal - it reveals your passions, your concerns, your viewpoints on life, your weaknesses. It's scary to open that up for critique. But, it comes with the territory for those who want to write professionally. So, I told everyone and the response was... unbelievable. I never expected that much support or enthusiasm. To say that I was blown away would be an understatement. I was touched and encouraged like never before.
I'm sharing all of this to lead into the following:
The process to go from manuscript to publication is not an easy, simple one, as I think some of my friends might believe. There are a few steps involved that require a lot of patience and vigor.
So far, this is what my path has looked like
1 - Development of the premise. In my case, this was started with a dream. It sounds cheesy. Maybe it is, but that's how the novel came to me. I wrote down the dream and let it percolate, and then I began writing. (October)
2 - The first draft. This was basically just a mad rush of writing in which I got everything possible out about the story. Truth be told, it only took me a couple of weeks to write the first draft. Granted, it was terrible and riddled with holes, but it was there. (January - February)
3 - The first revision. I went back through and started stitching loose seams together with dialogue and more story. Then I let it rest for a few days. (February)
4 - The second revision. Ditto. Only this time, instead of trying to start the third revision after only a few days, I set it down for about four - five months. (February)
5 - The third revision. I came back after a couple of months, read through the manuscript, and decided to pretty much completely redo it. The same characters and elements are still there, but I took it from first person to third person and added a lot more action and dialogue. The result? Not as bad. Then I let it rest some more. (July)
6 - Beta Readers. I then asked several close friends and family members and a few other people who are nuts about young adult literature to read the manuscript and make notes. This took a few months, and I got back the results somewhere in October, I believe.
7 - The fourth revision. Taking the beta readers' criticisms in mind, I started at the beginning and retyped the whole thing, adding in elements, fixing dialogue, upping the romance, fixing the pace, and revising the beginning. It now has no prologue and very little "slap you in the face" backstory. Instead, the book now starts where Chapter 2 had begun in the third draft. The result? MUCH better. (Thank you, lovely beta readers.) I now believe that it is prime for querying.
9 - Querying. In traditional publishing, the first step an author needs to take is to find someone - a literary agent - to represent his or her work. You can't just take your novel and send it to Scholastic and ask them to publish it... it doesn't work that way. So, essentially you take your entire novel, shrink it down to a few key points, and write a hook - something to get an agent interested in your manuscript. This makes up the body of your query letter. I have gone through about 8 different versions of my query letter, and I still tailor it specifically to each agent in whom I have interest. Once your query letter is submitted to the agent, it becomes a matter of...
10 - Waiting. At this point, I have had one manuscript request in the week since I emailed agents. It can take an agent anywhere from minutes to months to respond to a query and another couple of months to respond to your manuscript after they've requested it. It's enough to drive someone nutty. I just emailed out another round of queries last night as well. My goal is to cast my net as wide as possible without exhausting my resources.
Now, IF an agent liked my manuscript, this is what would happen.
1 - Most likely, I would have to make revisions to my manuscript to make it as publishable as possible.
2 - If the agent liked the revisions that he/she had suggested, they would offer me representation. This costs me nothing at the time - they don't make money until I make money, and their typical commission is 15%.
3 - The agent would then begin to try to sell the manuscript to publishing houses. Just because an author has an agent doesn't mean that the book will sell or ever reach publication. The editors and houses have to be interested in the idea and see a market for it.
4 - If a publishing house liked the book, we would go under contract. It would take another round or two of editing/revision, most likely, and then it would probably be another year or so until paper copies hit the shelves.
And there you have it. The whole process could die out at any moment or never even get brought to life if an agent doesn't like my work. So, here's hoping that SEVENTEEN draws someone's eye and that they believe in the story enough to help me through the process.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Love and Peace
Well, after a tumultuous fight with Hotmail for the last ten hours, I finally managed to get to my inbox and find a response from the agent who initially showed interest. And...
She said it sounded fabulous and asked for the manuscript!
I then proceeded to bounce around the living room by myself like a spaz (my husband was at the gym). And then I called my parents and bounced while on the phone. And then Evan got home and we bounced some more. My legs are tired.
So anyways, once Hotmail decides to quit being a punk, I'll get my manuscript emailed to her and then spend the next several weeks trying not to give myself an anxiety attack. How? Lots of kickboxing, writing, fellowship, and general staying-busy. Not to mention that in the meantime, I still have to hear back from seven other agents who I queried along with this particular one. (I got a rejection yesterday, no surprise, from an agent who I was timid about but decided to query anyways.)
I am blessed. I am thankful. I am excited. I am humbled. I pray that this might be the beginning of something for me. I have done a lot of waiting (patiently and impatiently) since I graduated with my masters degree three years ago. I always thought that I would immediately land a teaching job and then that would be my life track until retirement. Seriously - I had it all planned out for the next 30 years. Only, God has taken my plans and thrown them into oblivion. I didn't get a job teaching, and I still haven't. Sometimes I doubt that I ever will. Instead, I've had a few odd jobs, grown a LOT through those jobs, met a lot of interesting characters and made a lot of friends, had a dream in which the book came to life, wrote down the dream and turned it into a book, and am now waiting to see where the book will lead me. Once I quit griping about how things weren't going the way I had planned, I realized that things were going much, much better than I could have ever imagined. God has a way of doing that, you know? So, my pride rests not with myself and what I have done. It rests with God and his unfailing promises to do what is best and what is good. I try to no longer pray for what I want. I pray for what He wants to do through me and with me. His guidance is more important than my whims. I can't wait to see where he guides me next.
With that, I wish you all love and peace. Good night, dear ones.
She said it sounded fabulous and asked for the manuscript!
I then proceeded to bounce around the living room by myself like a spaz (my husband was at the gym). And then I called my parents and bounced while on the phone. And then Evan got home and we bounced some more. My legs are tired.
So anyways, once Hotmail decides to quit being a punk, I'll get my manuscript emailed to her and then spend the next several weeks trying not to give myself an anxiety attack. How? Lots of kickboxing, writing, fellowship, and general staying-busy. Not to mention that in the meantime, I still have to hear back from seven other agents who I queried along with this particular one. (I got a rejection yesterday, no surprise, from an agent who I was timid about but decided to query anyways.)
I am blessed. I am thankful. I am excited. I am humbled. I pray that this might be the beginning of something for me. I have done a lot of waiting (patiently and impatiently) since I graduated with my masters degree three years ago. I always thought that I would immediately land a teaching job and then that would be my life track until retirement. Seriously - I had it all planned out for the next 30 years. Only, God has taken my plans and thrown them into oblivion. I didn't get a job teaching, and I still haven't. Sometimes I doubt that I ever will. Instead, I've had a few odd jobs, grown a LOT through those jobs, met a lot of interesting characters and made a lot of friends, had a dream in which the book came to life, wrote down the dream and turned it into a book, and am now waiting to see where the book will lead me. Once I quit griping about how things weren't going the way I had planned, I realized that things were going much, much better than I could have ever imagined. God has a way of doing that, you know? So, my pride rests not with myself and what I have done. It rests with God and his unfailing promises to do what is best and what is good. I try to no longer pray for what I want. I pray for what He wants to do through me and with me. His guidance is more important than my whims. I can't wait to see where he guides me next.
With that, I wish you all love and peace. Good night, dear ones.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Done and done... sort of
So, here's an update on the writing/editing/querying process:
I weighed my options between a ton of agents that I've been researching and finally emailed nine queries between Thursday and Friday to agents who have represented some of my favorite YA books. I completely revamped my query letter to make it short and catchy with the help of a former teacher and with a small prayer, I clicked send. Now, considering that last year I sent out oh... fifty to sixty queries... all of which came back with a formed response that essentially said "no thanks" (which in my head translated to "awww, hell naw"), I decided to take it much slower this time. Nine queries isn't too few or too many, and if they all come back with negative responses, then I haven't exhausted my list of desired agents. At the worst, they all send formed rejections again, at the best I get an offer of representation, and at the worst, and somewhere in the middle, I get a detailed rejection with critical feedback.
But now for the big(ish) news. I heard back from my first agent on Friday night (THAT SOON), and she had a question about the genre and wanted a synopsis of the novel. After I quit jumping up at down, I sent out the info she had asked for. I know, I know: just because she asked for a synopsis doesn't mean that she's head over heals with my story. She didn't even straight up ask for a copy of the manuscript. BUT - she's interested. This is new territory for me, and it feels pretty spectacular.
Now to continue with the waiting game. I still have to hear back from the eight other agents, along with hearing back from this particular one who has already contacted me. I'm excited to say the least.
Hopefully I will soon start working on the sequel again. I already have about 150 pages written of book #2, but it was written significantly before I made some major revision changes. It's still in first person, as the first book was before I rewrote it in third person. So, needless to say, there's a lot of work to be done with this.
Oh, and I also have another idea for an adult novel that includes a bit of time travel, romance, and weighty women's issues... strange, I know, but I'm excited about it. Now if I can only find the time to write some more...
I weighed my options between a ton of agents that I've been researching and finally emailed nine queries between Thursday and Friday to agents who have represented some of my favorite YA books. I completely revamped my query letter to make it short and catchy with the help of a former teacher and with a small prayer, I clicked send. Now, considering that last year I sent out oh... fifty to sixty queries... all of which came back with a formed response that essentially said "no thanks" (which in my head translated to "awww, hell naw"), I decided to take it much slower this time. Nine queries isn't too few or too many, and if they all come back with negative responses, then I haven't exhausted my list of desired agents. At the worst, they all send formed rejections again, at the best I get an offer of representation, and at the worst, and somewhere in the middle, I get a detailed rejection with critical feedback.
But now for the big(ish) news. I heard back from my first agent on Friday night (THAT SOON), and she had a question about the genre and wanted a synopsis of the novel. After I quit jumping up at down, I sent out the info she had asked for. I know, I know: just because she asked for a synopsis doesn't mean that she's head over heals with my story. She didn't even straight up ask for a copy of the manuscript. BUT - she's interested. This is new territory for me, and it feels pretty spectacular.
Now to continue with the waiting game. I still have to hear back from the eight other agents, along with hearing back from this particular one who has already contacted me. I'm excited to say the least.
Hopefully I will soon start working on the sequel again. I already have about 150 pages written of book #2, but it was written significantly before I made some major revision changes. It's still in first person, as the first book was before I rewrote it in third person. So, needless to say, there's a lot of work to be done with this.
Oh, and I also have another idea for an adult novel that includes a bit of time travel, romance, and weighty women's issues... strange, I know, but I'm excited about it. Now if I can only find the time to write some more...
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
And with a flair for dramatics, I say...
Okay, so I'm a little late with this, but...
*deep breath*
I'm finished! (With Draft 4, that is.)
Once I finally came down from my Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas-induced sugar rush today, I actually sat down and tweaked the last few things that I wanted to tweak, and now I think I can stamp draft four of SEVENTEEN with a big fat "Gotcha."
Now, I know I said I was going to have it finished by Christmas, but then life happened, and work happened, and the in-laws and out-laws and various other friends and family members happened, and well, here we are. New Year's Day 2013. I gotta say, it feels good. I know it'll probably go back under the red pen at some point, but at least for right now - for the last twenty-eight minutes remaining of January 1, I can sigh with relief.
Now...
*another deep breath*
It's time to query. Daunting to say the least, but exciting at the same time. Last year, when I finished the first draft, I threw out approximately 20 queries (okay, maybe 30... cringe) all at the same time out of some sort of writing-induced, egotistical mania, and of course, none of them bit (mainly because the book was... well, garbage). I feel in my bones that it is much better, and even just rereading through it tonight, I was impressed with how far it has come. I'm excited.
So anyways, here's how a dream version of 2013 would go (in no particular order):
1 - book picked up by agent and publisher (Shoot for the stars, my dear.)
2 - family started aka pregnancy later in the summer (Nervous much? Yes, why yes I am.)
3 - 5k completed (I had to throw that one in there for some motivation after stuffing myself with enough candy to fill the Willy Wonka factory over Christmas.)
4 - full-time job acquired (preferably teaching or writing)
5 - refinishing my bedroom furniture (gotta get it all in the list, you know?)
6 - a nice vacation with my sweet, bearded husband (whose beard resembles that of a dwarf from LOTR, by the way)
7 - learning to do laundry before I end up having to wash two months' worth of clothes in one shot. (Disgusting, I know. I HATE laundry.)
Seven things... I can handle seven things. Not - take notice - resolutions, but things. It's less intimidating that way. Granted, most of them are HUGE things, but with the grace and guidance of God and with the support of my best friend and husband, I've got this.
Happy New Year to you, and may God bless you and yours.
*deep breath*
I'm finished! (With Draft 4, that is.)
Once I finally came down from my Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas-induced sugar rush today, I actually sat down and tweaked the last few things that I wanted to tweak, and now I think I can stamp draft four of SEVENTEEN with a big fat "Gotcha."
Now, I know I said I was going to have it finished by Christmas, but then life happened, and work happened, and the in-laws and out-laws and various other friends and family members happened, and well, here we are. New Year's Day 2013. I gotta say, it feels good. I know it'll probably go back under the red pen at some point, but at least for right now - for the last twenty-eight minutes remaining of January 1, I can sigh with relief.
Now...
*another deep breath*
It's time to query. Daunting to say the least, but exciting at the same time. Last year, when I finished the first draft, I threw out approximately 20 queries (okay, maybe 30... cringe) all at the same time out of some sort of writing-induced, egotistical mania, and of course, none of them bit (mainly because the book was... well, garbage). I feel in my bones that it is much better, and even just rereading through it tonight, I was impressed with how far it has come. I'm excited.
So anyways, here's how a dream version of 2013 would go (in no particular order):
1 - book picked up by agent and publisher (Shoot for the stars, my dear.)
2 - family started aka pregnancy later in the summer (Nervous much? Yes, why yes I am.)
3 - 5k completed (I had to throw that one in there for some motivation after stuffing myself with enough candy to fill the Willy Wonka factory over Christmas.)
4 - full-time job acquired (preferably teaching or writing)
5 - refinishing my bedroom furniture (gotta get it all in the list, you know?)
6 - a nice vacation with my sweet, bearded husband (whose beard resembles that of a dwarf from LOTR, by the way)
7 - learning to do laundry before I end up having to wash two months' worth of clothes in one shot. (Disgusting, I know. I HATE laundry.)
Seven things... I can handle seven things. Not - take notice - resolutions, but things. It's less intimidating that way. Granted, most of them are HUGE things, but with the grace and guidance of God and with the support of my best friend and husband, I've got this.
Happy New Year to you, and may God bless you and yours.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Draft 4
Well, when I last left off, I had just finished Draft 3 sometime during August. As you can see, it's now late November, and I have spent the last couple of months decidedly NOT writing. There are a few reasons for this. I spent the first ten weeks of the school year (until the end of October) as a full-time, permanent substitute teaching eleventh grade history classes. I absolutely loved it, but goodness, it left me with no energy for writing, that's for sure! It was such an incredible experience, and it was very difficult for me to hand the classes back over to the actual teacher, even if she is incredible.
In addition, in my free time (especially since subbing is now less demanding), I have been doing what I like to call "research" about my genre. Truthfully, though, "research" is code for sitting on my butt, snuggling with my puppies, and reading 20+ books in just a couple of months, most of which I have really, really enjoyed. The Covenant Series, Under the Never Sky, The Scourge, the Mindjack Series, the Divergent Series, The Frost Chronicles, Haven... so many exceptional books. And my favorite part about them? They're stories that keep getting bigger and deeper and more dimensional. There are sequels and prequels and novellas... and they feed in to my absolute love for epic series. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, The Chronicles of Narnia - just the tip of the iceburg. I'd recommend any of the titles above to anyone.
But now back to the biggest reason why I haven't done much writing lately: I've been waiting on beta reader responses. Okay, so really only one or two in particular. And the verdict? It was pretty much what I expected. It wasn't terrible, but some key issues were picked up on. Things like backstory, believable teenaged dialogue, and more character depth are the biggest problems pointed out to me. I know how to fix the problems with backstory - I had initially had more in the book than I do now, but I took some of it out for fear that it would bore the reader. I just need to drop details into conversations. There's also a bit of a romance in the story that needed a little work - also doable. As for the dialogue, I can change some aspects, but due to circumstances, my characters really wouldn't know many coloquialisms. Therein lies the struggle. I'll figure it out, I'm sure.
Anyways, my goal has been and still is to have the final draft completed before Christmas which gives me one month to the day. This shouldn't be a problem depending on how nit-picky I get, and I plan on getting very nit-picky. That will give me a couple of weeks at the beginning of the year to let it sit again and then give it a final read-through to check grammar, spelling, flow, etc. I hope to have some queries sent out by February. That will be exactly one year from when I completed the first draft. I guess we'll see!
Completing the fourth draft and getting it queried is just one of a few different life-changing goals that I have planned for 2013. One of the biggest (at least to me at this point) is a potential mission trip to Cambodia. Human trafficking in that country has been weighing very heavily on my heart for the past several years, and I would like to do something about it. I know that I can't go in and physically save these girls, but I can try to share hope with them through Christ. I don't know if the trip will actually happen - it's something I'm praying over and about which I'm asking for guidance. I just can't ignore the tug on my heart anymore. I guess some might refer to this as a "calling," so I'm trying to be obedient and patient. Anyways, I'll keep you updated on any extra developments. Hopefully I should have some news on the book and on Cambodia by the next time you hear from me. :-)
In addition, in my free time (especially since subbing is now less demanding), I have been doing what I like to call "research" about my genre. Truthfully, though, "research" is code for sitting on my butt, snuggling with my puppies, and reading 20+ books in just a couple of months, most of which I have really, really enjoyed. The Covenant Series, Under the Never Sky, The Scourge, the Mindjack Series, the Divergent Series, The Frost Chronicles, Haven... so many exceptional books. And my favorite part about them? They're stories that keep getting bigger and deeper and more dimensional. There are sequels and prequels and novellas... and they feed in to my absolute love for epic series. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, The Chronicles of Narnia - just the tip of the iceburg. I'd recommend any of the titles above to anyone.
But now back to the biggest reason why I haven't done much writing lately: I've been waiting on beta reader responses. Okay, so really only one or two in particular. And the verdict? It was pretty much what I expected. It wasn't terrible, but some key issues were picked up on. Things like backstory, believable teenaged dialogue, and more character depth are the biggest problems pointed out to me. I know how to fix the problems with backstory - I had initially had more in the book than I do now, but I took some of it out for fear that it would bore the reader. I just need to drop details into conversations. There's also a bit of a romance in the story that needed a little work - also doable. As for the dialogue, I can change some aspects, but due to circumstances, my characters really wouldn't know many coloquialisms. Therein lies the struggle. I'll figure it out, I'm sure.
Anyways, my goal has been and still is to have the final draft completed before Christmas which gives me one month to the day. This shouldn't be a problem depending on how nit-picky I get, and I plan on getting very nit-picky. That will give me a couple of weeks at the beginning of the year to let it sit again and then give it a final read-through to check grammar, spelling, flow, etc. I hope to have some queries sent out by February. That will be exactly one year from when I completed the first draft. I guess we'll see!
Completing the fourth draft and getting it queried is just one of a few different life-changing goals that I have planned for 2013. One of the biggest (at least to me at this point) is a potential mission trip to Cambodia. Human trafficking in that country has been weighing very heavily on my heart for the past several years, and I would like to do something about it. I know that I can't go in and physically save these girls, but I can try to share hope with them through Christ. I don't know if the trip will actually happen - it's something I'm praying over and about which I'm asking for guidance. I just can't ignore the tug on my heart anymore. I guess some might refer to this as a "calling," so I'm trying to be obedient and patient. Anyways, I'll keep you updated on any extra developments. Hopefully I should have some news on the book and on Cambodia by the next time you hear from me. :-)
Monday, August 13, 2012
Transitions
After several late nights, early mornings, and staring off into space trying to figure out how to get my plot to work, I did it. The third draft is completed at 73,000 words, which is roughly 9,000 more than my first draft. The overall storyline has remained basically the same, but I've added a lot of elements to it. I love how it's turned out, but now comes the true test.
I've given it to my first beta reader. Beta readers are people who provide criticism for manuscripts before they're sent to agents or editors. So who did I choose to read it? One of my husband's coworkers - an English teacher and an avid reader of young adult literature who loves dystopian thrillers. I sent her an email asking if she'd be interested, and she said yes, but that she'd probably be pretty harsh. While this makes me absolutely terrified, it also makes me happy. There's something unnerving about handing your manuscript off to someone who you know as opposed to some literary agent whose address you pulled off of the internet. Your personality and thoughts are reflected through your manuscript, and to allow someone to critique it, it's pretty intimidating. I know that she'll provide an unbiased opinion on it, and that's what I'm craving at this point. So now I will wait until she sends me her critique before I look at the manuscript again. The best thing that I can do is to let it rest for a while so that I can return with an objective point of view.
Fingers crossed, here's hoping for good feedback and workable changes.
I've given it to my first beta reader. Beta readers are people who provide criticism for manuscripts before they're sent to agents or editors. So who did I choose to read it? One of my husband's coworkers - an English teacher and an avid reader of young adult literature who loves dystopian thrillers. I sent her an email asking if she'd be interested, and she said yes, but that she'd probably be pretty harsh. While this makes me absolutely terrified, it also makes me happy. There's something unnerving about handing your manuscript off to someone who you know as opposed to some literary agent whose address you pulled off of the internet. Your personality and thoughts are reflected through your manuscript, and to allow someone to critique it, it's pretty intimidating. I know that she'll provide an unbiased opinion on it, and that's what I'm craving at this point. So now I will wait until she sends me her critique before I look at the manuscript again. The best thing that I can do is to let it rest for a while so that I can return with an objective point of view.
Fingers crossed, here's hoping for good feedback and workable changes.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Reading, Writing, and the Olympics
Hello, again. Did you think I'd died after rejoining the gym? Thankfully, I didn't. Quite the opposite, rather. I've been soaking up every last bit of freedom that the summer provides for teachers such as myself.
The past two weeks have been busier than usual, not that I can or should complain. My sweet mother in law came to stay with us for a little over a week to celebrate the barage of July birthdays in our family. I enjoyed having her around, not just as a friend, but also as an artist. While here, she read the first third or so of my second draft and offered some advice and encouragement, which I really appreciated. I've been dying to get someone else's opinion, but I wanted to wait until the draft was completed before I let my husband read it. He's full of suggestions and ideas, but this time, I want him to receive it not as a participant, but as a reader. I'm nervous and excited to see what he has to say this time around.
But back to my MIL. In addition to being generally awesome company, she also volunteered to house sit Thing 1 and Thing 2 while my husband and I went to Chattanooga for a night to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. It was an incredible, highly-needed mini vacation, and I think I'm still working off the pounds of food that I ate while there. Seriously, I ate a lot. If you ever get a chance to go to Chattanooga, make some time to go to The Terminal Brewhouse. It's incredible.
Anyways, since we returned, I've been writing as frequently as possible, so much so that my neighbors probably think I've turned into a hermit since my car hasn't moved from the driveway in a week. That's okay, though. I'm making progress, and even stayed up till 3AM last night finishing the second-to-last chapter. I know it probably seems strange, but I'm hesitating to write the conclusion, not because I don't like it, but because I dread the next stage: Revision. Holy moly. The last time I started revising this book, I ended up completely rewriting it from a different point of view, and I changed several elements. It's taken a couple of months to do this, and I can already tell how much better it is as I reread it and skim through the beginning and the middle of the book. Here's the deal though:
It's worth the work to write the book that I picture in my heart and mind. Some decisions are hard, and I just decided to drop the prologue that I had so pain-stakingly written and revised several times. Why? Because I don't need it. I'm not big on taking every single piece of advice for writing fiction that's floating around on the internet, but I did listen to this one. There was nothing important in the prologue that I couldn't work in to the actual book, so that's what I've done. I'm also to the point where I'm trying to decide if I should delete a character. I like him, he's got a noble personality, but is he essential? I'm starting to doubt it. I also need to sift through the pages and pluck out a ridiculous number of unnecessary words, primarily adverbs. He whispered quietly? No joke. I don't want to be that person.
Another reason that I dread the revision process is because I tend to get overly optimistic about how GREAT my book is. I did this last time. I cranked out the story within a month, re-read it a few times and checked for errors, and then sent out query letters to a ridiculous amount of agents, who of course responded with a polite, but generic "no thank you." I'm pretty ashamed, actually, and I don't want to do that this time. I want to make sure that it's as tight and cohesive as possible, that the story is as irresistable to readers as it is to me. So, I'll finish my second draft tonight, hopefully, set it aside for a few days to get a fresh perspective, and then attack it with a red pen and lots of notes. Right now, it's just below 60,000 words, a little too short for my taste, but there's plenty of room to expand.
When I've finished the first round of revision, I'll hand it to my husband and maybe a few trusted friends who I know either read young adult fiction or write, and then we'll see. Until then, wish me luck and give me a kick in the pants if you see me wasting time.
The past two weeks have been busier than usual, not that I can or should complain. My sweet mother in law came to stay with us for a little over a week to celebrate the barage of July birthdays in our family. I enjoyed having her around, not just as a friend, but also as an artist. While here, she read the first third or so of my second draft and offered some advice and encouragement, which I really appreciated. I've been dying to get someone else's opinion, but I wanted to wait until the draft was completed before I let my husband read it. He's full of suggestions and ideas, but this time, I want him to receive it not as a participant, but as a reader. I'm nervous and excited to see what he has to say this time around.
But back to my MIL. In addition to being generally awesome company, she also volunteered to house sit Thing 1 and Thing 2 while my husband and I went to Chattanooga for a night to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. It was an incredible, highly-needed mini vacation, and I think I'm still working off the pounds of food that I ate while there. Seriously, I ate a lot. If you ever get a chance to go to Chattanooga, make some time to go to The Terminal Brewhouse. It's incredible.
Anyways, since we returned, I've been writing as frequently as possible, so much so that my neighbors probably think I've turned into a hermit since my car hasn't moved from the driveway in a week. That's okay, though. I'm making progress, and even stayed up till 3AM last night finishing the second-to-last chapter. I know it probably seems strange, but I'm hesitating to write the conclusion, not because I don't like it, but because I dread the next stage: Revision. Holy moly. The last time I started revising this book, I ended up completely rewriting it from a different point of view, and I changed several elements. It's taken a couple of months to do this, and I can already tell how much better it is as I reread it and skim through the beginning and the middle of the book. Here's the deal though:
It's worth the work to write the book that I picture in my heart and mind. Some decisions are hard, and I just decided to drop the prologue that I had so pain-stakingly written and revised several times. Why? Because I don't need it. I'm not big on taking every single piece of advice for writing fiction that's floating around on the internet, but I did listen to this one. There was nothing important in the prologue that I couldn't work in to the actual book, so that's what I've done. I'm also to the point where I'm trying to decide if I should delete a character. I like him, he's got a noble personality, but is he essential? I'm starting to doubt it. I also need to sift through the pages and pluck out a ridiculous number of unnecessary words, primarily adverbs. He whispered quietly? No joke. I don't want to be that person.
Another reason that I dread the revision process is because I tend to get overly optimistic about how GREAT my book is. I did this last time. I cranked out the story within a month, re-read it a few times and checked for errors, and then sent out query letters to a ridiculous amount of agents, who of course responded with a polite, but generic "no thank you." I'm pretty ashamed, actually, and I don't want to do that this time. I want to make sure that it's as tight and cohesive as possible, that the story is as irresistable to readers as it is to me. So, I'll finish my second draft tonight, hopefully, set it aside for a few days to get a fresh perspective, and then attack it with a red pen and lots of notes. Right now, it's just below 60,000 words, a little too short for my taste, but there's plenty of room to expand.
When I've finished the first round of revision, I'll hand it to my husband and maybe a few trusted friends who I know either read young adult fiction or write, and then we'll see. Until then, wish me luck and give me a kick in the pants if you see me wasting time.
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