The Thrills and Chills of Being on Sub!!

Hi, writer friends! I'm posting today for the Insecure Writers Support Group monthly blog hop. My topic for the post, appropriately since it pervades my thoughts each day: being on submission with publishers! 

I signed with my lovely agent Sandy Lu in August, and after a couple rounds of minor edits on my contemporary fantasy, Huntress Found, we went on sub in mid September! It's true what they say - in the life of a writer, you rarely achieve such heights that you never have to worry about rejection again. When you're querying agents, you just want to get that agent. Then when you get an agent, it's on to possible rejection by publishers. And once you get published, there are always people that don't like your book. It really never ends, which is why I try to stay as relaxed as possible about the whole thing. If we let ourselves get sucked down in that maelstrom, jumping from one insecurity to the next, it sucks a lot of the joy out of writing. So, for now I wait patiently for news. Sandy says it usually takes editors eight to twelve weeks to read a manuscript, so we might start hearing back this month. If you'll bear with me for an Oprah moment, I like to use positive visualization and imagine hearing the news that editor(s) love my book. And that's how I stay sane with it all! That, and gratitude for the things I do have and the lessons I've learned.

In the vein of agents, I've started doing query brags and critiques as my way of paying it forward to the writing community. On Friday I'm posting the query that got my agent's attention. If you have a query you want help on (MG, YA, NA or adult), or a query that brought you success, let me know! Otherwise, I hope everyone's having an awesome week. 

Click here to visit the other IWSG posts or to sign up! TTFN! 

Obsession, Owls and Ouch

I may have to rename my Monday Meme 'Random Mondays'... hehe. Did everyone have a great Thanksgiving? I hope so!

So, let's talk about obsession first. I hit my writing goal this weekend. Well, actually I think I said I wanted to write 10,000 words, but I really was firm on writing 3,000 words a day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which I did. About 36 pages. I'm not disappointed. I'm sitting right under 70,000 words, so only 10,000 to my first draft goal. I don't think the first draft is going to hit the 80k, but I already know places I need to go back and flesh out, and I don't think I'm going to be cutting a lot, just tightening.

Anyways, so I entered the final climax of my book yesterday, which I hadn't fully plotted out yet, and I finally figured out exactly what's going to happen at the end. Yay! So, I have it all in my head, and I finished my writing for the day, and then I got in this weird obsessive house cleaning mood. It's weird because I hate cleaning. But I really cleaned. Like, on top of the refrigerator, moving all the kitchen appliances and cleaning under them. Yeah. I also threw away the toaster oven and trashcan. It was very strange.

I'll talk about ouch next so we can end on owls (a happy note). So, just a couple hours ago I got back a rejection on a request for the full manuscript of Countless, my first book. The agent said she was really intrigued by my idea and wanted to love the book, but just wasn't pulled in by my narrative and didn't feel it was ready for mainstream pub. Us writers are such sadistic little puppies I was actually glad to get honest, real feedback and not just a form rejection. Anyways, I've kind of had the same feeling about Countless. I think it's a good book. I just don't know that it's good enough to get an agent's attention. Of course, it's great that I'm just about done with my second book to distract me from the disappointment.

Getting to the Monday Meme, which is kind of random (like this whole post). So, I have this strange love of owls, which is fed by the many awesome owl things being sold everywhere these days. When I'm a famous author, I'll feed my owl merchandise fever by buying things like these:

**Photos removed since peeps have been getting sued for posting photos on blogs**

Of course, I may feed this owl fever before I'm a famous author :) But I'll feed it more when I have moula to spend on silly owl decor.

So, what about you, writer friends? Writing ups and downs? Any fave forest creatures? I hope everyone has a great week!

Good news and bad news

Usually I spit out the bad news first.  But this time, I have to tell you the good news in order for the bad news to make sense.  And there's some good news with the bad news, too... anyways, here it is:

I got my first partial request!  An agent asked for pages based on just my query letter.  I screamed and jumped up and down (which truly terrified the cat) and shrieked at my husband and hugged the dog and called my mom. 

The bad news is that the agent rejected me a day later.  She said she enjoyed the pages, that they were well-written and my story was interesting, but she didn't connect with my characters.  Talk about a roller coaster of emotion!  So, the good news about the bad news is that I finally got some feedback, and at least finally connected with a real live agent.  And, it's a step in the right direction, an important rite of passage.  I know most people get some rejections on partial requests before they finally land an agent.

So, I'm excited to have finally gotten further than a form rejection, and the agent's suggestion really confirmed for me some needed editing I had been contemplating for a while.  I love my prologue - it's very dramatic and fast-paced.  But the next fifty pages or so are my least favorite of the book.  And if I feel that way, it's unlikely an agent is going to get far enough to request more.  My goal at the beginning of the book was to build on the feeling of isolation of my MC - she's going through crazy stuff, there's no one to confide in, etc.  But what's missing is the juicy dialogue and characters that come into play later.  Therefore, I've undertaken a major edit, completely rewriting the first couple of chapters to bring forward some scenes and characters that initially were sitting further back in the book.  I also decided I need to play up the sassiness of my MC.  I wanted to portray her as very normal, so that when she discovers she's a witch it's that much more dramatic, but I have made her a bit too boring.

Progress!  Change!  Adventure!  I'll keep you guys posted on my voyage back into EditLand. 

November!

I hope everyone had an awesome Halloween weekend! Mine was good. I discovered that when you are a woman, with a man’s wig on your head, and you’re trimming the wig with electric clippers, you know you’ve gone overboard for Halloween. I was Michael Scott of The Office at my office, for a department costume contest. I was actually sort of digging the tie.

Other news of the weekend – I continue to have internet issues which I am battling with CenturyLink about. Don’t you all love paying for services you don’t get? Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it continues working this time. Hmmmm, what else. I saved a lizard from an untimely feline demise. I realized that my two favorite sodas, Coke and Dr. Pepper, create an amazingly delicious concoction when mixed together.

I got a rejection today. Sigh. I wonder at what point I’m going to have a major writers identity crisis meltdown. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. But, until then, I’m just going to keep enjoying my favorite season. Can’t believe it’s November! I love, love, love the holidays! And I’m definitely thinking about all my new writer friends that are participating in NaNoWriMo. Good luck everyone!

Well fellow writers, that’s all I have for the moment… I’ve got lots of catching up to do on everyone’s blogs since I haven’t had internet for the last five days. Goodnight!

Halloween, pumpkins, football - oh, and rejection

So, this weekend I got the quickest rejection thus far... this chic had some super powered form rejection skills.  I submitted a query late Friday night and when I got up Saturday morning, already turned down.  Now, granted, this agency only asked for a query letter and no sample pages, so she didn't have a lot to read.  But impressive for a Friday night.  Maybe they've created a robot that can automatically respond to queries... AI for agents.  He he he...

On a more happy note, Halloween is coming up. Don't you just love Halloween? I never end up getting a cool costume, but if I did, I'd be Hit Girl from the movie Kick Ass - eleven-year-old assassin with a foul mouth.

On other Halloween related topics, we bought our first pumpkin the other day... my son picked out a cool orange and white speckled one.  Also, yesterday I took him to his first football game and here's a secret - it was actually my first, too.  Living in a big university town it's kind of weird I've never been, but I could just never get at all interested in football.  After seeing the game, I'm still not interested in it, but I did have fun just being in the stadium surrounded by such excitement.   Phrases like 'line of scrimmage' flying about the crisp October air. 

Here are a couple pics I just took.  Enjoy!

Maximus

Query Crazy

So, this weekend I fired off four new queries, and did some rather exhausting research on Writer's Market to come up with a list of another fifteen agents to begin querying next. Oh, the fun. I've already gotten one rejection... but, the good thing about that is it doesn't feel quite so devastating as the first few. I can handle it calmly without feeling really personally put out.

So, today I promised to do nothing pertaining to my book other than write this post. I took my time doing normal stuff like make dinner, read the mail, help my son with his book report. Now I'm about to take a bubble bath and read Alice in Wonderland (which I picked up the other day; never read the whole book), maybe drink some wine, and then paint my toenails. Good night!

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...

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...

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...

Potato chips and fruit

So, it ends up I didn't have long to suffer in the waiting game with the agent I submitted to. Alas, I was rejected. Email queries are a double edged sword that way; you don't have long to wait whether it be a good response or a bad. I am grateful I got a response at all, because a lot of agents these days accept email queries, but don't respond at all if they don't like your work. While I wasn't provided any feedback, it was a very polite decline.

I must say that after I read the email there were some tears, followed my Ruffles and french onion dip, followed by a couple strawberries and an orange. Yes, I always eat weird combinations of food like a pregnant lady. I didn't get much in the way of sleep either, while wallowing in a pity party and thinking bitterly of my optimistic post of the day before. This was all very late last night mind you, so now that a new day is here my previous post doesn't seem quite so mocking and is still a source of some hope. I've been getting some good feedback on www.authonomy.com, so I'm going to do some more editing (groan) and push on.

So, today I salute potato chips and fruit, and I'm headed off to hopefully get a better sleep.

Funny memories

So, while mowing the lawn yesterday (yes, I'm one of those people), I suddenly remembered something that made me laugh out loud (although the atrocious sounds of the lawnmower covered the sound). When I was about eight or ten years old, I used to get Ranger Rick, a kids magazine about nature and conservatism. Each issue had a fictional story with forest animals, along with educational articles. Anyways, I decided at one point to write a story about saving sea creatures that live in tidepools. I went so far as to type it up and send it in. And so it was that I received my first rejection letter, the bane of probably every writer in existence.

Looking back, I find it hilarious that I was so into not only writing, but getting published at such a young age. It was one of those memories that I had nearly forgotten, but it was oddly inspiring, though they turned me down. If I can be so persistent at that age, and still love to write a couple decades later, that means something, right? I did end up getting some magazine articles published a few years ago, so at least I have had a small taste of not getting rejected. Here's to perseverance and fulfilling life long dreams!