Weekly Deets -- 8.24.15

It's Monday morning and I'm attempting to jump start my week. Protein and fiber included in breakfast (I'm usually not so vigilant; most of the time it's coffee and more coffee.) to get the energy juices flowing. Then I stare at the current WIP and ... and ... okay, so I decide to pop in here to write a post. After all, I totally skipped last week *gritting teeth being reminded of bad habits, i.e., procrastination*. Seriously though, this is writing calisthenics, which will get me going on that WIP. I'm 99.99999_% sure of it!

So, topic for the week? I've been thinking about the whole representation-publication-because-I-want-a-career process. I've trudged through nearly fifteen years of it, faced the battlefields, hurdled the obstacles, picked myself up and, well, trudged on some more because that's what we do if we want something badly enough. And I want it. I want it baaaaad. *maliciously grinning while drooling* Anyway, returning to my original thought. Let's go far back in time ...the image in my brain is a caveman writer, chiseling out his story on a stone tablet, and then Dino the dinosaur traveling miles and miles to deliver it to the Bedrock Publishing Company. No. Wait. That's the Flintstones. Wrong story. Oops. Seriously, you get the picture and you know it hasn't always been easy to get your writing out there to somebody, anybody, like it is today. 

Up until the nineties, the process was quite simple, well, not simple as in easy, but there was one way to do things. Only one. You wrote a story. You wrote a query to introduce the story. (Remember, all of this needed to be typed ... on a typewriter, folks. Ever seen one?) You printed off your story, your query letter. Searched for an envelope. Oh yeah, almost forgot, you needed a copy of the Writers Digest, (actual book, cause there wasn't a computer and internet, or any modern technology to go searching through, right?) And last year's copy wouldn't work. No, no, no! Writers Digest  was, and probably still is, released once a year. You needed access to the current one because editors come and go so quickly in the land of publishing, don't they? So, you found an agent or publisher you thought would like your story, and then you sent your work to said agent/publisher. Don't forget, you had to include a SASE for their response. Yeah, they don't flip the bill for that. And then you waited. And waited. And waited some more. Really this should sound familiar. Even through cyberspace communication, you wait, and wait. 

If you were lucky you got a positive response. Maybe the person you addressed wanted to see more (if this was a full-length MS), in which case, NOW you were about to spend a whole lot more on additional chapters to print, or even the whole thing! This, on a possible yes-we-want-your-story from agent/publisher. And if no? Well, you started over. *sigh* Yes, today seems so much easier and cost-effective, if only the market wasn't flooded with so many wannabe authors. Still, we try, don't we? Because that is what we do if we want something badly enough. 

Happy writing! Enjoy your week and above all, if you write it, they will come. Or at least if you keep subbing your story, they will ... eventually ... we always hope. 

Weekly Deets (or more like MONTHLY this time around!) 8.3.15

Busy week, great stuff, and more great stuff. Enough stuff to make me super happy, super excited, and super optimistic! First, I was offered a publishing deal which made me waver back and forth about what to do. So, I decided to take a risk and maybe be just a bit pushy ... okay, maybe hugely pushy, but it was worth it. Squeakiest wheel and getting the most oil, you know. Back on point: I decided to email the agent who had my full, AND by the way, she's the one who I really wanted to have represent me. I asked her for advice and pressed the point how much I wanted an agent to help me with my career. Going it alone was not really in my best interest any longer. I guess I may have done a teensy bit of groveling ... okay, a lot of groveling, but it paid off. Yes. It. Paid. Off. 

This brings me to #2 round of great stuff: I have an agent! Yepper. I am no longer flying solo, which is a really big deal. Really, really BIG deal. When Jessica answered my mail (and, by the way, she suggested I pass on said publishing offer) I was over-the-top excited. You see, we sort of have a history together. Back in February I participated in a Twitter contest called #adpit. Jessica requested a partial of my manuscript. Circumstances didn't create the deal, then. But fate wasn't about to give up on us! Fast forward to July, and another opportunity came about. This time it was on #pit2pub, also a Twitter contest. I took a chance and asked her if she'd be willing to look at the revised work. She said yes and I was stoked.

Soon, she wanted to set up a time for THE CALL. When we talked it was like fate brought us together. We clicked. I know that sounds cliche, but it's true. Most times, I am extremely nervous talking to people I don't know. (my childhood shyness and insecurity at its best) But not this time. Turns out, I felt very comfortable. I like her, really like her. She's enthusiastic, energetic, quite knowledgeable about the publishing industry, and she had such wonderful things to say about my writing. I'm impressed with her powerful ideas on where to get GRAVE MAKER BLUES published. We shall see. I have every confidence in her. So, thank you, Jessica Schmeidler and Golden Wheat Literary. I think we make a great team!

A Tweeting We Will Go ... to Find an Agent

I decided it was time to post about my experience tweeting. No. Not just any tweeting. I'm not a newbie to that. I'm talking about Twitter contests for authors and agents and publishers. I ventured into that world recently to see what I could accomplish, and frankly to see what the buzz was all about. After all, I've been writing for many years, had a few books published, which gained a modicum of success, depending on how you view success. I've been enjoying the experience thus far, but want to take it to another level, i.e. agent represented, i.e. knock on pub doors I can't do otherwise. 


I discovered Twitter contests like #adpit, #agentmatch, #pitchmad, etc. by accident while using Query Tracker (an excellent resource, by the way) and perusing the comments. Authors were saying how they submitted to such and such agent after said agent requested their work on __________ Twitter contest. So, I ventured over to Twitter and ... Voila! All those little goodies, a paradise land for writers scrambling to get noticed and sell their work to an agent were here, popping up all over the place. I could already feel the attraction, the joy it must bring to be a part of it all. I mean, there can't be anything better than that feeling of validation where one hears an agent tweet, "I liked what I read in your pitch. Send me the first 20, 30, 50 pages." What??? Somebody likes me, really likes me ... that is, I hope so after he/she reads my sample pages. 


So, I took the dive. I entered #sunvssnow, #adpit, and #agentmatch. Now here's where I must warn you, it's addictive. A drug you want twenty-four seven. But that aside, I gladly joined the realm of agent-seeking peons. And it hit me. So, here's where the party is happening! All the agents are coming over to take a look. Then another thought slapped me in the head. Of course, they'd come here. Scanning through maybe fifty to a couple hundred pitches vs. hundreds of query emails coming at you almost everyday? I'd choose door number one, too. Not to forget, these contests provide a support system with lots of success. Writers helping writers helping agents, and it's turning out to be a wonderful pay-it-forward cycle.


Oh, about that support system? Writers connecting with other writers is gold, pure gold, giving each other encouragement, pulling each other up from the trenches when it gets rough and mean, and sometimes offering help with that precious baby called a manuscript. Trust me. Nine months is nothing when there are some who've spent years on developing, polishing, and polishing again that "precious baby". 

So, what did I accomplish? Lots of new Twitter friends, like-minded people with similar goals and obsessions. And I did get a few nibbles at my work. Who knows? One of them may work out and a partnership will be made. I can always hope. In the meantime, I glow from the validation, the acceptance, the camaraderie. Yes, that part is priceless. 

Oh, and did I mention the addiction aspect? Hmm ... I think I'll head over to Twitter and see what's happening next. I hear #pitchmad is approaching, or maybe ...

Happy writing, all! 

Where Oh Where Does My Story Go? ... The Journey of DYING TO DREAM

Manuscript is finished ... check. Edits, Revisions, More Edits, and Revisions ... check. Final read-through ... check. Now what?


Well, I had two options, both of which I'd taken before. If I chose option A -- query to agents, it will be a much longer road, much longer wait, but if it happened, I could get doors to open that would never be possible without an agent. Or option B -- submit the work to small, independent publishers who don't require an agent. Quicker, less fuss, but not the big payoff. Okay, so I'm not so patient any longer. Go with option B. Besides, I had accumulated a waaaay long list of indies to submit to. It would be a really long time before I'd run out of "doors to knock on".


I started with 4 or 5, one of which responded right away and asked for the full manuscript. Turns out this was to be a big delay in getting Dying to Dream published because this particular pub wants the suspense they accept to be big on romance. The good part is they were willing to work with me to get the story to the point where they'd like it and want to contract.


Two good things happened during this process. One, I did manage to add some romance. And two, I narrowed down the POV's to three, which I hadn't realized is such a very big deal :-). The downside was that there wasn't enough romance, and I wasn't willing to add more, so we parted ways after almost a YEAR! "Sigh"


Back to square one: This time, I submitted to five more pubs (that's a total of about 10 submissions -- really low number for me since the last work I'd written went out to probably about 50!) That was in the first week of August, 2012. Mainly Murder Press replied right away and said they'd get back to me after reading the sample chapters. Two weeks later, they asked for the full (8/22/12). By the end of August they offered me a contract. (WOW! That was fast.) But wait. I'm not through.


While I was taking time to read through the contract and deciding what to do, I received an email around the middle of September from yet another pub I'd queried, offering a contract. By this time, I'm thinking, what is going on and what a gem of a story I must have written! In the meantime, MMP is wanting an answer. I'm researching, even reading some of the books they've published and liking what I see. We go back and forth with me asking questions about certain things in the contract.


I finally make my decision and decide to go with MMP. It's a good fit. But the story doesn't end there. Geesh! A couple of days later, one of the other pubs asks to see the full manuscript. And a couple months later, yet another wanted to offer a contract! That's 3 out of 5 this time around who wanted to contract, and 1 that showed interest. The odds don't get better than that! And the expression, "you snooze, you lose" comes to mind :-) Sorry, you other guys. MMP caught the fish and I hope they are as happy as I am.


Now, of course, I can't help thinking, if I'd known what a great thing this novel of mine was, would I have gone the agent route and caught a bigger fish of my own? Well, I'll never know, and that's not how I'm gonna play this act in my life. No sir. I'm gonna drink the wine and enjoy the ride!

Pointing in the Right Direction ...

If you are looking for advice on what NOT to do in writing your great masterpiece, this post I'm about to direct you to might help. It focuses on the seven reasons agents will stop reading your first chapter.

• Generic Beginnings


• Slow Beginnings


• Trying Too Hard


• Too Much Info


• Clichés


• Loss of Focus


• Unrealistic Internal Narrative

The information for this post was gathered at a writers' conference where several agents listened to openings -- first 250 words -- of manuscripts and gave feedback. For more details, check out: WHY AGENTS STOP READING