My first full ms request

After about a month of querying, sending out 10 letters each week, I received my first request from a literary agent for the full manuscript of book #3 in the Kody Burkoff Series. My first reaction after opening the email was to step away from the computer and start doing other non-writing things. Weird, huh? I have this horrible fear of being disappointed, and this one email could either end with me popping open a bottle of champagne, or, well, with me being completely and utterly disappointed. I've promised myself not to get excited about the prospect of landing an agent. I am, however, excited that my query letter gained some attention. From what I've read on the millions of websites explaining how to write a successful query letter, there is no right or wrong way to do it. It really all depends on what the agent is looking for on that particular day, and then maybe in which direction they want to grow their careers. Being an agent can't be an easy job. I can't imagine reading hundreds of queries every week from authors like me who are waiting for their one big break, waiting for just one person to validate their work and see that it has commercial value.

I've learned a lot in the last month about my writing and about what agents are looking for. I've also learned a lot about the various genres. Some are new to me. I had no idea there was a genre called "New Adult" for those struggling 20-somethings who have everything, yet still aren't satisfied. Um...I'll keep my comments to myself for fear of sounding like a grouchy old woman.

Who knows where this one request will take me, so I'll keep trudging forward with a positive attitude. I hope you do the same with whatever your dream may be.

Day 11 and waaaayyyy behind

After signing up for NaNoWriMo several weeks ago, I anxiously awaited the start date. Now though, after 11 days, I'm struggling to hit 5000 words. My head has been all over the place, and I've had a serious case of avoidance - avoiding what I promised myself I would do. The baseball story geared toward 8-12 year old boys has been on my mind for months. I have the characters mapped out, the plot sort of mapped out, and it's now cold and crappy outside so I have no excuses but to sit my butt on the couch in front of the fireplace and write. Just sit down and write, Jen!!!! That's what I've been telling myself.

I have to be honest and admit that the rejections that are slowly popping up in my Inbox are not helping my motivation. At least once a day I ask myself what my purpose is and why I'm wasting my time with the whole writing business. Then, a little later on, I tell myself that if I quit now, all the time I spent over the last year was for nothing. A debilitating battle develops in my head EVERY SINGLE DAY. Oh, don't feel sorry for me. I clearly know the agony I put myself through. You know what the real kicker is? There is still a teeny, tiny part of me that thinks my writing career has a chance. UGH!!!!

NaNoWriMo

I just signed up for NaNoWriMo (nanowrimo.org), which stands for National Novel Writing Month. The website's goal is to have authors complete a 50,000-word rough draft during the month of November. Challenging, right? Definitely. This event comes at the perfect time for me because I'm not quite ready to start on another Kody Burkoff mystery. (By the way, in case you're curious, the next Kody book will most likely include her ex-Las Vegas showgirl friend, Nancy, as the main character.) During November, I plan to try something a little different. It's been in my thoughts since last spring when I taught a creative writing class to a small group of middle schoolers. This new book will be about an eleven-year-old boy and the game of baseball. My target audience is boys between the ages of 8 and 11. With two boys of my own and a baseball fanatic for a husband, I feel I am quite qualified for this topic. Not to leave my daughter out, the boy will have a sister who loathes the game.

I jotted down some notes yesterday about the plot and feel pretty good about it. What I'm having a dilemma over now is whether to write the story in first or third person. I feel more comfortable writing in first, but it would give me an extra challenge to write it in third. I'll have to let you know what I decide.

Book #3: First query submitted

After much thought and having scoured every word of my 276-word query letter, I made my first submission yesterday. I spent about a week and a half perfecting it, with the help of my mom, so it feels pretty good to (hopefully) have someone else read it. I'll get busy sending it out to more agents. Word is that I should send out 10 queries a week. So far, I have a list of about 30 agents, which means I'll need to keep researching. I can't imagine my luck turning around in just three weeks. But, hey, you never know!

I never really discussed my plan for book #3 on this blog. Oh, and by the way, I'm using the working title, Crossing Carol. It may not be perfect, but at least it's something. All the other names I came up with were so overdone. Anyway, Crossing Carol is complete at just over 80,000 words (Yay, me!) and I plan to make agent submissions until someone accepts me. Usually at this time, I would get the book ready for self-publishing, but I want to try traditional publishing. The perk being that someone else can help with marketing (Yay, someone else!).

Final edit compete, at least for now

Just past the deadline, I finished editing my manuscript. I'm happy, yet not ecstatic, probably because I know that if I was to start the editing process all over again, I'd make just as many changes. But...I must move on. The next step in the process is to write the dreaded query letter, luring a prospective agent to read a few pages and snag them with my excellence. I'm hoping for better luck this time. My past attempts have been futile and short-lived. I have vowed to put in more of an effort this time. I will query until I can query no more!

The synopsis is also on my to-do list. That's another daunting task. I spent almost a year writing an 80,000-word novel and am now supposed to write a three-page summary of it, double-spaced. Who came up with that idea? I bet it wasn't a writer.

Final edit of book #3 (still untitled!)

My goal was to have book #3 completely edited by the end of today. With 35 pages to go, I'm not sure if that's going to happen. UGH! My other goal was to send out my first query letter next Monday, and I'm not sure if that will happen either. UGH! But...I'm trying not to rush it, not to push something out there that I'm not entirely happy with. Deadlines or not, I'm looking at book #3 as my golden ticket. My husband hates when I refer to it like that.

Editing my own work is not my favorite thing to do because I know that no matter how hard I study each and every word, I'll miss something. Oftentimes, I'll catch myself reading the text for meaning, which isn't good. Reading for meaning won't catch grammar mistakes.

Are you wondering why I can't choose a title for book #3? Yeah, me too. It's driving me nuts, actually. Like I said though, this book is my golden ticket, and I want it to be perfect. I've been looking online for a pattern to the titles of the best sellers and have noticed that for the most part, the titles are a single word. I'm also considering moving away from the pattern I've created for myself with using the character's name in the title. Okay, so I'm leaning toward Buried Secrets. It's not a single word, but it fits the contents and has some mystery to it. I'm not sure if it will stick since plenty of other books have the same title. UGH!

Off to editing I go!

My first author presentation

I was invited to speak at the Kasson Public Library on Monday night as part of their Books and Beyond series, and I'm rather pleased with how it went. I'm also very glad that it's over and so is my dog. She had to listen to me speak out loud for hours on end as I practiced the presentation. Never having done one before, I was incredibly nervous. Public speaking isn't something I look forward too, but I'm getting better at it and feeling more comfortable. The small audience filled with friendly faces helped immensely.

My theme, or message, for the presentation was, "Everyone has a story to tell." It goes along with my books and the main character Kody Burkoff being a ghostwriter. As I told the audience, on any given day Kody hears interesting stories from the people living in her community. Her clients share with her their wonderful, disgusting, sad, depressing, and sometimes boring events from their life. These are the same stories we might hear from the people in our own communities, if only we were a little more open. For most of us, it's human nature to hide our true selves from everyone. I mean, think about it. What do you really know about your mother, father, grandmother, etc.? Probably not as much as you'd like. An example I shared the other night is when I went to the funerals of my great-grandfather and my godfather. After reading the programs, I was embarrassed to learn who those men really were. I had no idea what they did before retirement, and I had never thought to ask. If only they had left behind a memoir for me to read. I could go on and on about my dream that everyone kept a journal to share with their families, but I can't keep going on and on because this chick needs to finish editing another book. UGH!!!!