Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Can't believe it's almost August

This month has flown by... good grief. Still haven't heard back from the third agent of the three I submitted to at the beginning of the month. Submitted to a couple new ones over the last week. Finally got around to doing some more edits to book one over the weekend on the drive to Jacksonville (I wasn't the one driving of course).

Truthfully, I'm already totally over waiting for responses and get rejected. I know, I know, it's only been six weeks or so since I started this madness but there it is, plain honesty. Of course, life's plain honesty, at least as it regards to writers, is that I may spend years trying to get an agent. A dreary thought.

The thing that really sucks about waiting on the two agents I recently submitted to is that they state that if they don't like your work, they just won't respond. But neither of them list how long you might typically wait if you are going to get a response... so should I give up hope after 1 week, or 2 or 8? It's a little frazzling. I have no idea if no response yet means no, or not yet.

Of course now comes the wondering, is my book really good enough? Should I totally rewrite it? Should I start another series altogether? The doubt creeps in and it's a hard pill to swallow. But, luckily perseverance is my thing... really hoping I don't have to stick it out for that long...

Friday, July 16, 2010

R-------n

Do I need to fill in the blanks above? Nah, I think you can figure it out. Of the three queries I sent out, I've gotten two rejections this week. One was a nice form letter and one was a condescending form letter. Fun times. I'm still waiting on the other, hoping and praying. If that one is a rejection too, I'm on to round three of agents.

However, I'm rockin and rollin on book two, full steam ahead. Haven't quite gotten motivated enough to go back to editing book one again. I'll get there soon enough...

Monday, July 12, 2010

Happy Birthday to me!

Since I have no new writing news (alas, my fantasy of having an agent ask to read more of my book on my birthday seems unlikely unless it happens in the next 82 minutes), I will share about what I did today. I got to sleep late, then I wrote on my second book for a few minutes, having done a lot of research on Paris last night and therefore having dreamt about it all night. Then I went to a very tasty lunch with my husband, kids, sister and mom, ending with a coconut cream bomb cake - need I say more? I guess I'll just say super yum... then my husband and I went shopping and I got an awesome new pair of jeans and some shoes. Then I came home, took a late afternoon nap, got up, talked to my BFF in Colorado, and now I'm about to write on my book some more. Oh, and there was a gorgeous sunset, which had that awesome effect where it seems to leak into the air and make everything seem yellow... I love that.

Sooo... tomorrow I have another day off from work and I'll definitely spend a good deal of it writing. Just getting past that pesky first chapter that can be oh so tricky.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Oh, the infernal waiting

Have I ever mentioned that patience is just really not my thing? Which, when one is in the situation that I am now in is a really unfortunate thing. And goodness knows how long I'll be waiting to hear about the query I sent in the mail!

I know I am committing the ultimate writers sin by lacking patience to hear back from an agent (so I certainly hope none are reading this post). I of course know how ridiculously busy they are, so I completely understand (my not so sneaky caveat in the extremely rare chance that one is).

The positive side of things is that I've started on my second book. Yay!! I decided to give myself a break from endless editing and just allow myself to have some fun - what a concept.

P.S. 7 days until my birthday!!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Back on the market

I think I've mentioned before how querying an agent is a lot like telling someone you have a crush on them. There's some definite soul baring in putting forth your work, wondering if they'll love it. And because I've done the supposed right thing and researched not only the agencies I'm submitting to, but decided on a specific agent to query, I get to feeling like I sort of know them a bit. At least their preferences when it comes to writing. After my sad rejection by the first agent I queried, my metaphor was apt as well... I did some introspection, stepped back and worked on my book until I felt I was good and ready to put myself out there again.

So, you might gather by my prattling that I've once again submitted my work for representation. This time I've submitted to three agents (well, at this exact moment two because I need a new ink cartridge to submit to the third). I've put myself out there once again, another fish in the vast sea of writers. And now I wait, the metaphorical words out of my mouth, to see if one of them says that they feel the same way. There is the glimmer of hope, the fear of rejection, all the lovely drama that rides on the query. And of course we can't forget the obsessive email checking...

Thursday, July 1, 2010

July!

My birthday is in July, so I am a big fan of this month. Also because of fireworks, the beach, lemonade, balmy evenings, and other such summery awesomeness. July is also the month I vow I will submit to more agents!! I have been really hung up on my synopsis trying to get it right. And I've been so busy at my real job that I haven't had a lot of energy to work on it.

But this month is the month for round two! For one thing, one of the agents I am submitting to is only accepting new queries until the 31st. Secondly, I want to get moving! My cat has just hopped up onto the bed to purr her approval of my idea. Hopefully my birth month will give me some luck!