As the title suggests, I have now officially submitted a query letter and the first three chapters of my manuscript to the agent I met at the conference from 8 months ago.
Now, the only question is this: Is that the light at the end of the tunnel I see ahead, or is it just another rejection train coming to run me over?
I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out.
I’ll post the query letter soon, with commentary and break down based on research I’ve done about writing query letters.
Are you ever really done with a manuscript? Probably not. Because as you grow and write more things your writing grows too and you could pick up a published copy of something you wrote ten years ago and take a red pen to it because you’ve learned so much more since then. But thank goodness you only knew what you did when you wrote that story, or that exact particular story would never have existed!
The reason I did not post last week was because I had just finished editing my manuscript…and the ending sucked. Completely fell flat. Totally lost. It took me another week to fix it, but now it’s done. It currently makes me cry, and I’m the one who wrote it. It’s probably time to hand it off to someone else who can read it with a fresh eye. I’m definitely too close to really catch everything that’s wrong with it.
In the process of fixing the ending this last time, I had to cut three scenes and change two. Two of those scenes I cut had been there since I started chapter one. It was really hard to let them go, but they just weren’t working and were completely not necessary. It’s so much better without them. But I still miss them. They had their good points. I saved them in separate documents, so I can keep them and maybe work them into something else.
Now I’m scared to do the whole consistency edit. I need to sit down and read this thing from page 1 all the way to page 486 without stopping (except for food and sleep and stuff like that), but I’m afraid of what other “darlings” I may have to kill. *sigh* On the other hand, the sooner the consistency check is done and all typos and misspellings are corrected, the sooner I can send the first three chapters to the agent who requested them.
I am so close it hurts. I think the only thing I ever wanted more than getting published was to marry the guy who is now my husband.
Chapter 33 has been edited – a scene was added and three others were trimmed. I have 7 chapters left to edit and the next two days are going to be absolutely insane! First of all, there’s work. The school system has a two-hour delay on Wednesday, which means full days on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, after dealing with detention duty, I have to cook my chicken stir fry dish for the Holiday Gathering that’s happening after work on Tuesday, and go to a small reunion of high school friends. On Tuesday, I have work, the Holiday Gathering, and then my writing group (with any luck whatsoever I might actually read everything before I get there, but we’ll see what happens). On Wednesday, I plan on packing up as soon as the students are gone, getting lunch, and going home. At that point, I will edit some more of my manuscript (hopefully at least two chapters). If I spend Thursday (three chapters) and most of Friday (two chapters) on just editing, I think I might be able to finish before Christmas. After that, it’s just the consistency check (done by December 28, I hope) and then it’s off to the agents (just in time for New Years)! It’s only been about seven months since I met that agent at a writing conference who requested the first three chapters of this story after the polishing was done – and of course, what I thought at the time was just polishing turned into full-blown editing. Anyway, I am THIS CLOSE to finally getting this submission to her!
I am also excruciatingly excited about working on something other than this “Buffy the Vampire Slayer Meets Angels and Demons” manuscript. Maybe dragons, or sorcerers, I think. Or possibly the emoish vampire story I’ve been sharing with my writing group, since they’ve been giving me such awesome editing advice. Or maybe I’ll go back to that epic fantasy thing I started when I was in high school. Who knows? I might even come up with a poem or two. Anything that is not this manuscript. And then if (when?) I get a positive response from an agent about this manuscript, I will be able to go back to it with a fresh pair of eyes and a healthy level of enthusiasm.
I will probably be posting my query letter and pitches along with advice that I’ve gathered about writing such things, so hopefully this blog will be about something interesting and useful for once instead of just me ranting or complaining or sharing even more editing updates – because really, how much fun is this thing to read? Maybe I should start doing writing exercises on this.
I am about two-thirds of the way through editing my manuscript and teachers have to start back for the new school year this Friday. Considering how I’m ripping pieces of this manuscript apart at the seams and then sewing it back together with new pieces here and there, I’m really not thinking this is going to get finished before Friday. That has me worried. I’m going to have very little time and energy for editing, or even writing, once the school year starts. My focus is going to have to be on the job that’s actually paying me instead of on the job that I hope will someday pay me. So, I’m kind of bummed. The good news is my manuscript is the strongest it’s ever been.
I was thinking back on my “journey as a writer”, and how it started out by my writing pulling me, and how it’s come to a point where I’m pushing my writing on. There was a moment about a year ago, where I decided that I was going to be willing to spend money on writing, just like I spent money on college for my teaching career. I decided that I was going to look at writing like a career instead of a hobby. That was when I bought my first book on writing: How to Grow a Novel by Sol Stein. I’ve collected a few more since then. Following some advice from the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents, I started this blog, and got a twitter, in an attempt to start a platform, without fully understanding what a “platform” is supposed to be. Now I’m pretty sure it’s got something to do with marketing yourself and turning you as an author into a brand along with the books you write. I joined the American Independent Writers and attended their annual conference last spring. This was my first writing conference ever, and it was also where I met an agent who requested the first three chapters of the manuscript I’m two-thirds done editing.
Today, I’m deciding that I’m in this for the long-haul. I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was fourteen. From that point, it took seven years of learning and training before I started teaching. I knew I wanted to write as a career when I was twenty-two. From that point, I need to give it at least seven years of solid effort before I even think about giving up. Probably eight or ten, because now I have a job and a husband and sooner or later I’ll have kids.
So, new goals: Finish polishing this manuscript by December 31, 2010. Send the first three chapters of this manuscript to the agent who requested them by January 31, 2011.
And, challenge goals: Finish polishing this manuscript by October 31, 2010. Send the first three chapters of this manuscript to the agent who requested them by November 1, 2010.
