You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'agent' tag.
I know what you are thinking, Thanksgiving is over so why bring up turkey now? Well, because I had a thought while I was making my little turkey about how editing is very similar to my turkeys. You see, I make very ugly turkeys but they taste really good. I have learned to doctor up the look of my turkeys to make them a little browner and more pleasing to the eye.
See exhibit A. This turkey is done as you can tell by the two red pop up thingies the turkey people felt I needed and my thermometer. But it is awfully white looking…
Now I could serve it just like this if I wanted. It would taste fine even if it looks kinda blechy. Or I can take the time to brush on some melted butter mixed with some soy sauce, honey and hoisin sauce, turn up the oven a wee bit to let it bake and have a much prettier turkey. See exhibit B…
While I know it isn’t a Martha Stewart looking turkey, the bottom one is much prettier. *please note the dark squares you see are green onions or ginger* You might be thinking I only wanted to post pics of my turkey but you are wrong. I have a point.
Editing is like my turkeys because the first draft of my book, while palatable, isn’t pretty. But if I edit it and take some extra time before sending it to an agent, the novel will be polished and look much better.
While I don’t like the editing process, I am holding the visual of my two turkey pics in my head to remind me how much it is needed. So, don’t be a turkey, take as much time as you need to edit your book. Happy Editing.
Sorry. This is why I didn’t do NaNoWriMo this year. I chug along pretty good but if I hit a bump- like getting sick and not posting for a few days- I tend to wander off and do other things rather than getting back on the horse.
While I don’t plan on the everyday post thing anymore, I do want to post frequently.
I am in productive state of mind. I haven’t been writing any articles in a while. Instead I focused on the book. Once the book was written, I am not sure what I did. 
I plan on writing articles every day again. Need money for Christmas and to pay the bills. But I still want to stay on target for the novel. I need to keep editing so I can submit to an agent.
Discipline is what I need. I wonder if I can rent a severe looking nun to crack a ruler over my knuckles when I goof off like I am in Catholic school? I wouldn’t wear the plaid skirt though. My uniform tends to be grubby shorts during the day. The scary thing is I probably could hire someone to do that and there is probably some clubs devoted to ruler wielding severe nuns. So not googling it!
Happy Monday everyone! I hope you have a happy and productive day.
I have found a critique group I can go to in person. Previously all my critiques have been online. The feedback is different when it is face to face. There is less BS and I can ask questions about things that I don’t understand. I love it.
I had a meeting today and brought the first two chapters of my baby to be reviewed. When eight people all say the same thing about a part you know they are right. One person saying it you can write off by thinking they just don’t get it.
But when more than one person doesn’t get it- that means you as a writer have failed. Which means it is time to rewrite.
There was one person in our group who was upset after her review. She said she had received a lot of criticism. She didn’t really. Several people were gushing about how poetic her work was but she only heard the negatives. I wonder if she will ever come back.
I guess I have a thicker skin. I want to hear all the bad. Throw it at me! Why? Because it means I can fix it and make my novel even stronger. I want the best of the best when I submit to agents.
I am in this for the long haul. I have a goal in mind- to get my book published and to have readers love it. So even if it means chopping a funny scene that I love because it doesn’t work in the flow- I am doing it. I have no problems hacking down the rosebush if it means I will end up with a beautiful rose at the end.
So my suggestion to you is find a local writing group and join. Not only did I get good feedback, I was itching to write when I got home. Heck I was hoping for a red stoplight on the drive home so I could write down ideas that popped into my head.
Critique groups are good! Go find one today.
I was reading a third book of a series yesterday. It had been a while since I had read the first two books. Yes, the book explained a little about what happened in the first two, but there were some parts I was totally lost. The book had way too much conflict to follow along. There was the main conflict which was needed for the story, then there was also other problems that needed solving and worries leftover from the other two books.
It made it really hard to follow. Yes the book mentioned that the character had faced the twinkie demon in the first book and defeated it by joining the ho-ho alliance and becoming the leaders mate. (yeah, I totally made that up). But then it went into the complications from that because it upset the pretzel cartel who was lead by a sister to the character. It spiraled down from there to where it distracted me from the main conflict of fighting the Krispy Kreme cult. It was way too much conflict to digest. (get it? digest. I kill me.)
On the other hand, not having enough conflict isn’t much of a story. It’s like watching a reality show with one average person going about their daily lives. Boring. Why would you want to read about it if you can look around in your daily life and see the same thing?
How does this relate to me and editing my novel for publication?
I am working on my query letter to hopefully snag an agent as I edit the book. This has me struggling with putting enough conflict in the query but not too much that it is too hard to follow. Yes, I am putting in the main problem… Karie needs to get her body back or she will die. (If you haven’t read my teaser about the book, please check it out here. ) But while resolving that conflict she uncovers an even bigger problem. Along the way her allies have conflicts they need to deal with also.
Which ones do I mention? Which do I leave out? Also, I can’t mention all the characters. But boy I feel like I am picking favorites when I decide who goes into the query letter. But pick I must.
I am constantly learning- constantly trying to improve my craft. I hope this never changes. After reading this book-which is a successful urban fantasy series- I learned not to make conflicts too complicated and abundant that they overshadow the plot of the book.
I also learned not to write blog posts when I am hungry or I make a lot of junk food references. The digest thing still cracks me up though.
I have been reading every agent blog I can find for months now. I have read and reread winning query letters. I am trying to be spongelike. In both ways- absorbing as much information as possible and SpongeBob like when he shouts, “I’m ready!”
My head is starting to spin from all the information out there. Do this, don’t do that, always do this, never do that– much of the information conflicts with other advice.
Waxman literary agency must have sensed my pain. This blog post made me want to shout, Hooray!
So, I am taking a little break from research. I need to finish round two edits. When I am ready to submit, I will read and triple check submission guidelines for each agent I am going to send queries to along with brushing up on what each one wants. Courier Sans or Times New Roman – word count and genre at the start of the query or at the end- I shall be like Burger King. I shall make it their way.
Hopefully one or two will enjoy it enough to ask for more.
I realize I haven’t been updating the blog as much as before. Boy when I was able to update word counts I felt compelled to blog. Now saying I edited 10 pages doesn’t sound quite as exciting.
I am excited to say first round edits are finished. I sent it off to the Betas- including some new folks that will have to be fully thanked in a later post (unless they hate the book then phoey on them). Thanks to Emily, Teri and Laurie who have been added to my Beta readers ranks. A writer friend I met on Twitter also has critiqued the first 10 pages for me. Ruthanne Reid is an amazing writer. Don’t believe me? Go to her website and read her first chapters here. You will be blown away.
So what does it mean to have first edits done? It means I see where the book needs more work. I am eagerly awaiting critiques from my Betas so I can make changes and start the second round of edits. I am saving a few people who offered to beta read for those edits.
I also wrote a query letter yesterday. No, I promise I will not send it out. Why? Several agent on twitter today bemoaned receiving queries letters where writers are not able to send the partial or full out right away. You have to be completely finished with edits before querying. I know this. I do. But man, that is a hard rule to follow.
Another rule I am struggling with is not writing book 2 if book 1 isn’t sold. I have the next book started in my head. I want to write it but I won’t. Why? If you can’t sell book 1 you are stuck with a book 2 that will also not sell.
Nope. Won’t do it. I am working on another idea that popped up in the middle of writing book one. I am struggling with some plot issues though so it isn’t flowing like the first. Of course I have just met some of the characters so they may take time to show themselves to me. Not every main character can be as pushy as Karie is from the first book.
So, that is what I have been busy doing. edits. plotting and trying not to give in to desires to query and write book 2.
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.
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 was chatting with my mentor Michelle L Devon about something and she mentioned that I should blog about it. I laughed. I told her I would have to dust off the cobwebs because I hadn’t blogged in a while. You know what came next, yup. She wrote a blog post about it.
I have inspired 3 blog posts of hers that I know of- 2 were for grammatical errors and now this one.
She challenged everyone to dust off their blogs and post. So here I am, my poor neglected readers, ready to dazzle you with my literary charm. (drums fingers) so, uh, how you doin’?
Okay I am a little rusty at this, so I will skip trying to dazzle and strive to keep you awake. Unlike some writers I have a great excuse for not blogging. I took “the kid” (5 year old boy with more energy than a nuclear power station could generate) out of daycare and kept him home for 40 days until school started.
I was focused on survival so the writing was pushed to the side. During weekends when the hapless husband would volunteer to take care of him so I could do some writing, I concentrated on articles to generate enough funds to pay the bills. And buy Valium lots and lots of Valium.
My excuse fizzled out this week though. The kid went back to school and mom went back to writing full time. I started strong and followed Michy’s advice in this article to avoid freelance pitfalls. By Wednesday I was Bejeweling, IMing and surfing the web. oops.
If I had been blogging I could say I was doing something related to writing. Well, in my surfing, one thing I have been doing is reading a lot of agent blogs and information about query letters. That’s research for work, right?
One agent I stalk I mean follow is Colleen Lindsay. I was very excited to read she was open to submission for the month, and she is looking for submissions in the genre I am writing about! How cool is that?
Then I realized, I am only 1/4 of the way finished writing the book. I still need to proof read it, then edit, then submit to peer writers to edit then maybe hire an editor to edit before I am ready to submit to an agent.
If I had spent the time I wasted playing bejewelled working on my book I might have been ready to submit to her.
So the point of my long rambling blog post is… I need to focus more on writing. With my new found determination I plan on blogging more about where I am in my book and other writing endeavors. My hope is it will keep me motivated and accountable.
Wish me luck?
