While I haven't been lucky enough to land an agent yet, in all the months I've been researching them and going through the query process I've definitely learned a thing or two about the business of it all. I'm by no means an expert, but here are a few of the things I've picked up in my quest to write the next great YA novel and get represented by someone who believes in me and my writing:
1) DON'T GIVE UP. Perserverence is what ultimately pays off in the publishing world. You may get rejected 60 times (like Kathryn Stockett did) but all it takes is for ONE agent to like what he/she reads. It's such a highly subjective business, hopefully, sooner or later your manuscript will land on that agent's desk (fingers crossed!!).
2) DO YOUR HOMEWORK. I can't believe how many agent blogs I read where the agents have to reiterate over and over again what kind of work they are looking for. Do people really just send mass submissions out to whatever agents they may stumble across on the internet, without even glancing to see what kind of material the agent represents?? I mean...that's just common sense. Why would an author waste their time (and the agent's time, for that matter) sending a YA fiction manuscript to someone who represents adult mysteries? Just seems silly to me.
a) Along these same lines, pay attention to what the agent requests. Do they
want your query & the first 5 pages? The query, your synopsis, and the
first chapter? Attention to detail is very important!!
3) CLEAN IT UP. Before you even start sending out queries, make sure your work is as polished as it can possibly be. Have some trusted readers help with this. After writing 80,000 words or so there are bound to be some errors and typos. Having a second or third (or fourth, even) set of eyes going over your MS can only make it tighter and cleaner.
4) KEEP WRITING. Start your next project while you're querying your first. From what I've read, and as heartbreaking as it may be, your first novel has a good chance of getting shelved. The more you write, the better you get at it. Well, hopefully anyway. I personally feel that my WIP is showing a lot more potential than IMME already. I'll always be proud of IMME- how many people can say they finished writing a novel??- but in the back of my head, if it doesn't go anywhere I know that I'll still be proud of it. And I will move on with the next one.
5) GROW A THICK SKIN. Look, rejection sucks on any level. It hurts, and it's soooo hard not to take it personally. I'm still getting used to it myself. It's hard to remember that the agent is not rejecting YOU, it's your work they aren't feeling passionate about. Again, it's a subjective business and you just have to find that one person who does connect to it. AND, even once you do get published you still have to deal with bad reviews and people who hate your books. People can be freaking brutal. You just have to be confident that you wrote the best book you could and go on with your life.
That's about it, for now anyway. These are all tidbits off the top of my head, so I may think of more to add later.
Happy Friday and happy writing!!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
I did it!
Your next installment of my weekly word count series:
Total Words Written: 3,101
Total Hours Spent Writing: 4.5
Total Word Count Overall: 17,748
Ya-HOOOO! I did it! My goal was 3,000 and I even surpassed that, my friends! I'm on a roll with this one, like, for real. The story is taking some twists I wasn't even expecting as I write it, and I'm just allowing it to flow. We'll see where it ends up going...
I think I'll be letting some peeps read through it this week if they have the time. But just like IMME, I feel like the beginning needs to be reworked a little. Nothing major, but I'd like to get that part fixed before sending it to them. It doesn't really matter that much, though. For now, there's no major editing I want done- I'm really trying to avoid revising when I open it up myself, instead just moving forward with the content- I just want to know how they think the story is going. Are the characters' voices strong enough? Are they individual enough (it's from two POVs, Riley's and Ella's)? Do they want to keep reading or are any parts boring, too descriptive, etc?
I can't remember where I was at this time last year with IMME. I think I was closer to halfway done, maybe a little further than that. But if I can keep up this pace, maybe I can actually have the whole thing written by the holidays. Then let the revisions begin!
That being said, I think I'm going to set my goal a little lower this week, mainly because there's a lot going on after work and I won't be around much this weekend coming up, either. Plus, I want to get some more IMME submissions out, too. I've been slacking with that, and it can't hurt to keep going with those. All it takes is just one person to see its potential, right? Anyway, so we'll set the goal this week at 2,000. I'm hoping I can get closer to 3,000 again, truthfully, but I have a feeling it's just going to be one of those weeks.
Today's Happy Thought: September, my favorite month, is only 16 days away! :o)
Total Words Written: 3,101
Total Hours Spent Writing: 4.5
Total Word Count Overall: 17,748
Ya-HOOOO! I did it! My goal was 3,000 and I even surpassed that, my friends! I'm on a roll with this one, like, for real. The story is taking some twists I wasn't even expecting as I write it, and I'm just allowing it to flow. We'll see where it ends up going...
I think I'll be letting some peeps read through it this week if they have the time. But just like IMME, I feel like the beginning needs to be reworked a little. Nothing major, but I'd like to get that part fixed before sending it to them. It doesn't really matter that much, though. For now, there's no major editing I want done- I'm really trying to avoid revising when I open it up myself, instead just moving forward with the content- I just want to know how they think the story is going. Are the characters' voices strong enough? Are they individual enough (it's from two POVs, Riley's and Ella's)? Do they want to keep reading or are any parts boring, too descriptive, etc?
I can't remember where I was at this time last year with IMME. I think I was closer to halfway done, maybe a little further than that. But if I can keep up this pace, maybe I can actually have the whole thing written by the holidays. Then let the revisions begin!
That being said, I think I'm going to set my goal a little lower this week, mainly because there's a lot going on after work and I won't be around much this weekend coming up, either. Plus, I want to get some more IMME submissions out, too. I've been slacking with that, and it can't hurt to keep going with those. All it takes is just one person to see its potential, right? Anyway, so we'll set the goal this week at 2,000. I'm hoping I can get closer to 3,000 again, truthfully, but I have a feeling it's just going to be one of those weeks.
Today's Happy Thought: September, my favorite month, is only 16 days away! :o)
Monday, August 8, 2011
Weekly Word Count
As promised, here's my word count for the WIP last week:
Total Words Written: 2,822
Total Hours Spent Writing: 4.75
Total Word Count Overall: 14,524
I'm thinking I'll start setting word count goals for the week, too...just to give me something to strive for. This sounds good in theory, and I know a lot of writers do this, probably HAVE to do this, and I should as well...I think I'm just worried it'll end up stressing me out if I don't meet my goal. But then again, not taking time to write in general stresses me out too! One big ball of stress over here, that's me.
Alright so, we'll give it a whirl, and keep it small this time. I'll say my word count goal for this week will be 3,000. I know that's actually higher than the total amount I wrote last week, but since I don't have a lot of plans this week I'm thinking it should be possible to squeeze in more time to write. We'll see!
What kind of goals do you like to set for yourself, if any?
Total Words Written: 2,822
Total Hours Spent Writing: 4.75
Total Word Count Overall: 14,524
I'm thinking I'll start setting word count goals for the week, too...just to give me something to strive for. This sounds good in theory, and I know a lot of writers do this, probably HAVE to do this, and I should as well...I think I'm just worried it'll end up stressing me out if I don't meet my goal. But then again, not taking time to write in general stresses me out too! One big ball of stress over here, that's me.
Alright so, we'll give it a whirl, and keep it small this time. I'll say my word count goal for this week will be 3,000. I know that's actually higher than the total amount I wrote last week, but since I don't have a lot of plans this week I'm thinking it should be possible to squeeze in more time to write. We'll see!
What kind of goals do you like to set for yourself, if any?
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
bad blogger
It's funny, because I was just thinking about how bad of a blogger I've been for most of this summer, when bam! I see on at least three of the blogs I normally read that they're either taking a blogging hiatus for a while, or just flat out haven't been very inspired to post lately. I fall into the second category. And I've been reading up a lot about how to be a "successful" blogger; things like making lists of topics you'd like to cover, writing your posts ahead of time all at once & posting them later, etc. They make it sound so easy. But I think my problem is that if I have time to write, I want to work on the WIP. And that's exactly what I'm going to start doing from this point on. I just don't feel like I need the added stress of being a "bad blogger" right now...not when I'm busying querying IMME and writing the WIP.
This isn't to say that I'm NEVER going to blog again, of course. When the mood strikes I'm still going to ramble about whatever here. In fact, to make myself a bit more accountable, I'm going to commit myself to at least ONE post a week. And if nothing else, in that post I will sum up how many words I've gotten down in the WIP (new tentative title, btw- This Life) and how many hours I was able to spend writing that week. I think seeing it added up in front of my own eyes will inspire me to keep going with it, to make myself sit down and take an hour here and there to write. Although who am I kidding, I can hardly ever write for just an hour once I get going. And therein lies the problem; it's difficult to schedule writing time when I feel like I need to commit an entire evening to it. Perhaps that's something I should start to work on, too. Anyway. I believe I will do those summary posts on Fridays...or maybe Mondays, since at times I get a good amount of writing in over the weekend. I'll ponder this & let you know...erm, on Friday or Monday.
Anyway.
Today's happy thought: Baby ducks. Who doesn't love fuzzy, wobbly baby ducks??
This isn't to say that I'm NEVER going to blog again, of course. When the mood strikes I'm still going to ramble about whatever here. In fact, to make myself a bit more accountable, I'm going to commit myself to at least ONE post a week. And if nothing else, in that post I will sum up how many words I've gotten down in the WIP (new tentative title, btw- This Life) and how many hours I was able to spend writing that week. I think seeing it added up in front of my own eyes will inspire me to keep going with it, to make myself sit down and take an hour here and there to write. Although who am I kidding, I can hardly ever write for just an hour once I get going. And therein lies the problem; it's difficult to schedule writing time when I feel like I need to commit an entire evening to it. Perhaps that's something I should start to work on, too. Anyway. I believe I will do those summary posts on Fridays...or maybe Mondays, since at times I get a good amount of writing in over the weekend. I'll ponder this & let you know...erm, on Friday or Monday.
Anyway.
Today's happy thought: Baby ducks. Who doesn't love fuzzy, wobbly baby ducks??
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
antsy
I'm a sensitive person. When other people feel sad or upset, I tend to completely commiserate with them. When someone close to me is in a bad mood, I can feel my own mood start to go south. When there's tension in the air, I feel nervous and uncomfortable and want to remove myself from the situation. On the same note, when those around me are in a good mood, laughing and smiling and have a grand ol' time, I tend to laugh and smile right along with them. I think this is why I've always enjoyed reading and writing so much. It's easy for me to put myself in other peoples' (or characters') shoes and lose myself in a good story.
This isn't to say I don't feel things on my own. I can wake completely crabby without really knowing why just like anyone else. And then nothing can snap me out of those moods, no matter how positive the people around me are.
I hate those days.
I'm feeling exceptionally antsy today for some reason. I'm not totally sure if it has to do with all the negativity I'm feeling around me, or if it's just my own mood pulling me under. I should be flying high right now- I'm leaving for vacation in 4 days, after all! And while part of me is totally excited about that (actually most of me is totally excited about that) there's a little teeny part that is feeling blue. Besides my normal worries (which mostly involve not having enough money) I know I'm dwelling a bit on not enough writing getting done lately, and then of course, waiting on more responses to my queries is just never fun.
So, I would like to take this moment to throw some positivity out there. I said that 2011 would be my year and I'm still counting on that, nevermind that the year is already more than halfway over. There's always next year too, right? And if not next year, the year after that. I will never give up, never push my dream to the side because there aren't enough hours in the day to make it happen. Only I can make it happen.
Today's Happy Thought (needed more than ever, apparently): the new baby giraffe at the Cleveland Zoo. I mean, seriously, how cute is he??
Trevor the baby giraffe!
This isn't to say I don't feel things on my own. I can wake completely crabby without really knowing why just like anyone else. And then nothing can snap me out of those moods, no matter how positive the people around me are.
I hate those days.
I'm feeling exceptionally antsy today for some reason. I'm not totally sure if it has to do with all the negativity I'm feeling around me, or if it's just my own mood pulling me under. I should be flying high right now- I'm leaving for vacation in 4 days, after all! And while part of me is totally excited about that (actually most of me is totally excited about that) there's a little teeny part that is feeling blue. Besides my normal worries (which mostly involve not having enough money) I know I'm dwelling a bit on not enough writing getting done lately, and then of course, waiting on more responses to my queries is just never fun.
So, I would like to take this moment to throw some positivity out there. I said that 2011 would be my year and I'm still counting on that, nevermind that the year is already more than halfway over. There's always next year too, right? And if not next year, the year after that. I will never give up, never push my dream to the side because there aren't enough hours in the day to make it happen. Only I can make it happen.
Today's Happy Thought (needed more than ever, apparently): the new baby giraffe at the Cleveland Zoo. I mean, seriously, how cute is he??
Trevor the baby giraffe!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
10 more days!
For almost as long as I can remember, with the exception of a summer here & there, my family has gone on a week long vacation down to the Outer Banks, North Carolina. I think my first trip there was waaaaaaay back in 1985. As my brother and I have gotten older, we still try to make it there every summer with our significant others, with or without our parents.
This year, however, is a little different. My husband started a new job in January and doesn't accrue a decent amount of vacation time until he's been there a year. In fact, he only received 6 vacation days this year- for the ENTIRE year. I call shenanigans on that! No way is that enough time off for the whole year! But I digress. The main bullet point is he would have to use 5 of his 6 days off to go down to the OBX, and so he'd better hope he doesn't get sick or need any other time off for the remainder of the year.
Plus, my family decided that they were finally going to stay down there for two full weeks. We've been talking about doing that for ages. Therefore, even if I had decided to tag along solo, I would've ended up using almost all MY vacation days for that one trip. As much as I love the OBX, I also love having random days off to look forward to. I could've gone down for just a week by myself, but I'm not comfortable with driving in the car alone for over 11 hours. I know, call me a wuss, but it's also a really complicated drive and I don't need to get lost on the back roads of West-by-god-Virginia somewhere. No thanks.
All that being said, my lovely friend Barra took pity on me and invited me along with her family to Isle of Palms, South Carolina this year. I am super stoked for this trip! I can't wait to see Charleston and make some new fun memories with her and her family. It'll be weird leaving the husband alone for a whole week, but it's nice to think that the cats will have someone to hang out with. I always feel bad leaving them alone (even though I'm sure they sleep for 95% of the time we're gone). We leave in just 10 days now...I remember when the countdown was at 60 days!
I do plan on bringing my trusty lap top with me, cuz you never know when inspiration might strike. One of these days I plan to write a summer vacation-based book too- set in the OBX, of course. Or a place inspired by the OBX, anyway.
Happy thought of the day: The smell of suntan lotion on warm, sun-kissed skin...ahhh
This year, however, is a little different. My husband started a new job in January and doesn't accrue a decent amount of vacation time until he's been there a year. In fact, he only received 6 vacation days this year- for the ENTIRE year. I call shenanigans on that! No way is that enough time off for the whole year! But I digress. The main bullet point is he would have to use 5 of his 6 days off to go down to the OBX, and so he'd better hope he doesn't get sick or need any other time off for the remainder of the year.
Plus, my family decided that they were finally going to stay down there for two full weeks. We've been talking about doing that for ages. Therefore, even if I had decided to tag along solo, I would've ended up using almost all MY vacation days for that one trip. As much as I love the OBX, I also love having random days off to look forward to. I could've gone down for just a week by myself, but I'm not comfortable with driving in the car alone for over 11 hours. I know, call me a wuss, but it's also a really complicated drive and I don't need to get lost on the back roads of West-by-god-Virginia somewhere. No thanks.
All that being said, my lovely friend Barra took pity on me and invited me along with her family to Isle of Palms, South Carolina this year. I am super stoked for this trip! I can't wait to see Charleston and make some new fun memories with her and her family. It'll be weird leaving the husband alone for a whole week, but it's nice to think that the cats will have someone to hang out with. I always feel bad leaving them alone (even though I'm sure they sleep for 95% of the time we're gone). We leave in just 10 days now...I remember when the countdown was at 60 days!
I do plan on bringing my trusty lap top with me, cuz you never know when inspiration might strike. One of these days I plan to write a summer vacation-based book too- set in the OBX, of course. Or a place inspired by the OBX, anyway.
Happy thought of the day: The smell of suntan lotion on warm, sun-kissed skin...ahhh
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
When Laziness Prevails...
I'm not sure if it has something to do with the heat and the hazy days of summer, but man, sometimes I feel like I'm losing my mojo a bit here. Don't get me wrong, the WIP is coming along, slowly but surely (another 1000ish words down this weekend- and it was a CRAZY holiday weekend, so I'm glad I even squeezed that much in!), but there are a lot of other things I feel like I could and should be doing to move along my so-called writing career dream. And I just...I don't know...I really should...if I could only...meh.
I'm even having a hard time lately keeping up with all the writerly blogs I follow religiously. And then when I do read them I end up feeling...hmm, how to describe it? Disenchanted? Lazy? Jealous? Tired? Like I-should-just-give-it-up-now-because-I'll-never-end-up-successful-like-these-people?
Gah, I know, right? Nice attitude.
The fact is, I know I should be spending more time back over at AgentQueryConnect, reading queries and offering critiques. I should join a writing group (that's actually in the works, I just haven't been able to make it to any of the meetings yet- they seem to always meet on Saturdays when I have other plans already made) and get a critique partner. At the very least, I should set aside an hour here and there to send out more submissions of In My Mind's Eye. I should make my writing time much more of a priority than I do.
All of these things sound so easy to do, really. The problem is LIFE gets in the way sometimes. Especially in the summer. I'm not trying to make excuses (ok, well maybe I am), but it really does get difficult to find enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do. I want to spend time with my husband. I want to hang out with my friends. I want to keep my house clean. I want to see my family from time to time. And while I may not want to work, I have a job I need to go to every day in order to pay my ever growing pile of bills.
Sigh.
So. The moral of this story (blog post?) is that I know what I need to do, now to prioritize and find or MAKE the time for all of this to happen. The last thing I want is to end up discouraged or overwhelmed, so much so that I just give up. I love writing and I honestly do hope that one day I'll see my name on a shelf in one of my favorite bookstores. That's the ultimate dream. And someday I will live it.
Hopefully.
I'm even having a hard time lately keeping up with all the writerly blogs I follow religiously. And then when I do read them I end up feeling...hmm, how to describe it? Disenchanted? Lazy? Jealous? Tired? Like I-should-just-give-it-up-now-because-I'll-never-end-up-successful-like-these-people?
Gah, I know, right? Nice attitude.
The fact is, I know I should be spending more time back over at AgentQueryConnect, reading queries and offering critiques. I should join a writing group (that's actually in the works, I just haven't been able to make it to any of the meetings yet- they seem to always meet on Saturdays when I have other plans already made) and get a critique partner. At the very least, I should set aside an hour here and there to send out more submissions of In My Mind's Eye. I should make my writing time much more of a priority than I do.
All of these things sound so easy to do, really. The problem is LIFE gets in the way sometimes. Especially in the summer. I'm not trying to make excuses (ok, well maybe I am), but it really does get difficult to find enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do. I want to spend time with my husband. I want to hang out with my friends. I want to keep my house clean. I want to see my family from time to time. And while I may not want to work, I have a job I need to go to every day in order to pay my ever growing pile of bills.
Sigh.
So. The moral of this story (blog post?) is that I know what I need to do, now to prioritize and find or MAKE the time for all of this to happen. The last thing I want is to end up discouraged or overwhelmed, so much so that I just give up. I love writing and I honestly do hope that one day I'll see my name on a shelf in one of my favorite bookstores. That's the ultimate dream. And someday I will live it.
Hopefully.
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