You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September 2009.
First of all, updated wordcount…60,016. Woo hoo! I am almost finished. I am right on target to meet my deadline of Oct 15th.
I am also excited now to do the rewrite of the beginning part of the book. I totally information dumped for the first 2,000 words or so. Bad writer! I am going to start the story at the chapter after those horrible words. Then I get to weave her backstory throughout the book. Call me crazy, but I am looking forward to it. So much so, that I had to force myself not to do it now.
Now is for writing the first draft. Editing is for later.
I have learned so much since I started the novel. It was my NaNoWriMo book for 2008- and yes, for those doing the math I failed miserably at it. I didn’t like writing just to write. I liked taking time to write the story at my own pace. But, going back and reading what I wrote almost a year ago makes me cringe. So many rookie writing mistakes.
One way I am learning is by reading blogs- agent blogs, editor blogs and writer blogs. There is a huge amount of information available for free out there. Look for a blog post soon listing my favorite ones.
Another way I am getting an education is on Twitter. That’s right. Nuggets of wisdom at 140 words or less. I have friended agents, editors and writers and pay attention to their tweets. I also participate in question and answer sessions. Imagine being able to ask your dream agent questions about queries and writing. Invaluable. I also review old chats by searching hashtags. Not sure how? Go to the search box and type in one of my favorites: #askagent, #askawriter, #pubtip and #queryfail.
You can also support and get support from other writers by using the hashtag #amwriting. Or participate in a #wordathon where writers write like they want to be published for a set time period, submitting their word count at the end. This weekend’s totals topped 74K words. woo hoo!
My point is, get out there. Read everything you can about writing and then just write. Good luck!
I hit a bit of a block last night. I realized I need to totally rewrite the beginning of my novel. It’s cliche and an obvious rookie move. Argh! I knew it in the back of my mind, but didn’t want to face it.
I was thinking about how you are supposed to send the first 5-10 pages to most agents. I didn’t want to do that because those pages aren’t really what the book is like. They are filled with backstory. bad bad bad.
So knowing I needed to rewrite those pages caused a total stall. I didn’t write anything last night. Silly temperamental writer. Stress on mental.
I went to bed and the characters were clamouring at me to write. I ignored them. I didn’t sleep well. I woke up crabby. Yelled at my son for being too cheerful. Bad day.
You know where all that got me? Right back here, still with a beginning that needs to be rewritten. Before I could really start to wallow, I read a blog post from my good friend Susan. You can read it here. It was just what I needed today- a good kick in the pants.
So I created a schedule for writing articles and the book today. I am not going to worry about the rewrites. I am going to concentrate on finishing the novel first.
Word count today is at 48,110. That is an average of about 1,118 words a day. It would have been more if I had contributed yesterday. I won’t fall into that trap again.
Whilst hunting the elusive literary agent, writers must tread carefully. Of all the prey in the writing world, literary agents can be the most cunning, most daring and most ferocious when roused. Many a writer have blundered their approach into the literary agent’s lair causing the agent to turn on them. Once that happens, hunter becomes prey.
Okay, I have been stalkingfollowing several agents on twitter and on their blogs. I am telling you, invaluable info available people! Most spell out very carefully how to query them. Seriously, it isn’t a secret and the link is usually featured very prominently on their blogs. If you are sending a query out and haven’t read their guidelines, please just go out and bang your head against the sidewalk.
When you knock some sense in there, read the guidelines and then send out your query. Oh and if your novel is not finished and ready to go- we’re talking perfect and edited to death- don’t query. Don’t waste everyone’s time and piss off an agent who may have liked your book if it was ready. I know this one is hard to resist. But resist!
I keep reading about things writers have done to query an agent. It blows my mind. I would think these weren’t true except I read them from several different agents. So here goes in no certain order what not to do when querying agents:
1. Do not try to pitch on Twitter. It’s annoying to read and I am not even the agent getting hit with these tweets.
2. Do not try to pitch in comments on their blog. This one is just sad. You read a comment that barely touches on the blog post, then the writer jumps in with their pitch. “In my book about an Emo Vampire who raises ferrets, I tell the story of…” Yeah, you get the point. Don’t do it.
3. Do not show up at an agents office with your manuscript in hand. This also extends to their home, gym, church well you get the idea. I joke about stalking my beloved agents, but would never actually do it.
4. Do not pitch to an agent while they are in the bathroom, eating dinner or stuck on the tarmac in an airplane-anywhere they are a captive audience. No one likes to feel trapped. Plus, it’s just creepy.
5. Do not tell them they are an idiot if they don’t sign you because your book is going to outsell Dan Brown and Stephenie Meyer combined. In fact, don’t tell them to do anything at all. Used car salesman type hard sell pitches don’t work. There are way more writers out there than there are good agents. Play nice.
Yes, there are many more things you should not do, but these ones stood out to me because they are so obvious. I wonder what the writers were thinking when they tried it.
I listened to a podcast interview of Curtis Brown literary agent Ginger Clark tonight. She gives some good info and has some scary stories (a writer leaving a query on an editor’s pillow in her hotel room- yikes!). I recommend listening to it.
Also, if you look to the left of this post, you will see a list of literary agent blogs. I need to add more because I discover new ones every day, but take a look at these blogs. Study them. Focus on what they want and what they don’t want. Follow them on twitter. You will get one line pearls of wisdom, plus a lot of them are pretty funny.
Also, when you are on twitter do a search for #askagent or #queryfail to learn more info before writing your query.
On to other news…
My word count for the day is 41,397. I know, not much progress today. I have really fallen behind on my article writing and the mortgage company doesn’t take money my 5 year old makes, no matter how cute it is. I am hoping to add more tomorrow. I want to have the novel completed in less than 30 days. If I can write at least 1,600 words a day I can get there. I can do it.
When it is complete and ready to query, I promise, nay I vow not to any of the things listed here when querying agents. Though I may send bribes, but that is a blog post for another day.
Why am I playing Bon Jovi on a monday morning do you ask? Well, first of all, any time is the right time for Bon Jovi and second I am halfway finished with the novel. That’s right I finished (drum roll please) 40,062 words last night. I am so excited. (No, I won’t post that video because while anytime is the right time for Bon Jovi, Monday morning is definitely not the right time for The Pointer Sisters).
I am anxious to start working on the book this morning, but I can’t. I really can’t. I have been neglecting article writing and will have serious paying bill trouble if I don’t get back on the wagon. But I have promised myself that after ever article I am allowed to work on the book. I am hoping the give and take will keep me motivated.
What keeps you motivated?
Back to the grindstone after a long weekend. I totally blew off article writing to work on the book and do home stuff with the family. I will have to bust my butt the next few days to catch up.
I’ll admit it, in the back of my mind I thought, When I sell this book and get my advance I can make up for not writing articles to pay the bills. Go ahead, laugh.
I’m a writer I create my own worlds and apparently when having these thoughts I really am in my own world. This was punctuated by a blog post from agent Rachelle Gardner here.
I suggest giving it a read because it is sobering. A $10,000 advance may take years to pay out. yikes.
So my big lesson here is that I need to focus on both. Write articles to pay the bills and then work on the book. Heck, writers do it all the time. No worries.
Oh and word count update: 35,019. I had to drag myself to bed last night at sometime after 4 AM. The book is so excited right now. The characters are clamouring for my attention. I dream about them. It’s hard not to write all day long, but I can’t. Must write articles.
Hmmm, maybe I can win the lotto instead. 
I have passed the 30,000 word mark! I am so excited. I am at 30,747 to be exact. I have big plans on writing a bunch this weekend. I would love to do a marathon and try to crank out another 10,000 words so I can say the book is half done, but I can’t. I need to work on articles to pay the bills. But soon, very soon I will be there.
One of the agents I want to submit the book to is closed to submissions right now. However, there are rumors she will be open again at the end of the month. If I can up my word count to 2,000 a day, that will give me a month to edit before submitting.
Gotta go and write now.
I have been neglecting the blog again. I wanted to write a blog about agents I am stalking following and some interesting and useful things I have learned, but that will have to wait for another day.
I have to take my father to the doctor, which is going to cut a big chunk into my day. I have considered bringing my laptop, but after fighting with the wheelchair, then getting dad in it plus carrying any medical paperwork- it just isn’t a good idea. So I revert to the original laptop- a pad of paper and pen.
Now you might be thinking, why bother? Well, I like to create outlines on paper or write down any stray ideas. I also like to write character descriptions. See, I’m not a detail person. When I read if the writer gets too much into details I start skimming. I am like that in real life too. I may not remember your hair color if I meet, but I will remember the story you told me about your grandmother’s friend’s parrot. For me, it’s all about the story.
So I need to write down the descriptions of my characters. If I had more magazine subscriptions I would go through and tear out pics of stars who look like them and put them up on a wall.
I am so excited because I am introducing an other character to my “mains” and I am excited to see how they react to each other. I am bursting with creativity right now so I can’t wait to get back and start writing.
Here is my word count for the day 27,885. I skipped a few days, but then had an inspiration and wrote a bunch. I think that is right on track though.
