Seven Month Itch

November is National Novel Writing Month (a.k.a. NaNoWriMo). For those who participate, I think it's a kick in the butt for people to get The Great American Novel out of their brains and onto paper or into the computer.

I was successful in 2009. By November 22, I had a 69,000 word first draft done and immediately began editing. I was so glad to have completed something, especially since I suffered such despair over my previous manuscript Destiny of Honor that was five years old and 247K long. Having The High Bridge done in record time and of a reasonable length sent me into the throes of ecstasy!

Then I sent it out for friends and/or crit partners (beta readers?) and got my butt kicked. It was in a good way and well-intentioned, but a beating is a beating. Sometimes you're too involved in a relationship to see what's wrong with the object of your affection and a friend has to come along and tell you "He's flawed. You can do better!" I found out that my love was a pretty good story but covered with warts.

I've spent the last five months working with this love of my life but have decided to send 'him' off to the big bad world to test if anyone else can grow to love 'him' as I have. Dressed 'him' up and sent 'him' out.

Unfortunately, I've grown lonely. I'm grabbing my notecard pile (my fertility potion) and plan to make an exciting new love, without the kick in the pants provided by NaNoWriMo.

Wish me luck.

The Query Shark

For those who don't know what a query letter is, think of it as a job application for writers. It's a letter of introduction about a specific project in which you ask an agent or an editor to consider working with you for the purpose of publishing your writing. As I said in another post, with a job app, you can kinda shrug it off if you don't get the job. With a query rejection, it's like an announcement that your child is so ugly, it's going to be killed.

The query process has begun for The High Bridge.

Okay, okay, I've only sent out three so far. One rejection has already come back, which didn't create the immediate and visible reaction I expected, although the results have caused cracks through which a little lava has seeped (high blood pressure, argument with The Husband, over-intensity in other activities not writing related...)

It was only one rejection, I know. Even though I can claim a 33% rate of non-return, I shouldn't react too harshly for all that. The law of averages are inherently against me at that low volume, but still, I keep thinking I have to 'fix' it somehow.

Yes, I've gotten advice from many sources about writing a good query letter, but I'm one of those people who needs examples to support an explanation. If there are rules to be followed, I'm very much inclined to interpret them how it pleases me. Either through stupidity or stubbornness, my imagination will draw all the wrong conclusions.

So, I've been spending lots of time reading (and re-reading) a website called The Query Shark, by Janet Reid. Janet is a semi-mysterious figure, although her public persona is well known. Starting with Miss Snark, she's been giving advice (and high blood pressure -haha!) to querying writers in a sardonic yet amazingly helpful ways for at LEAST ten years (yes, since she was 19 - haha!) She's also a literary agent who knows her stuff, so if I glean anything for the total 'rip' of the submitted query letters, I should be ahead of the game.

Funny how writers say "write for yourself" but feel (for the most part) that someone has to read your creation in order to be fulfilled. It's a strange paradox.

WAG #20 "Like a Virgin"

It's good to talk 'big'. It builds up your spirit, increases your drive, strengthens your heart.

The unfortunate consequence is if you talk 'big' to yourself too convincingly, the tumble back to reality just hurts that much more.

When it comes to talking big, no one is supposed to be better at it than a new writer sending out her first query, an experience I just 'enjoyed' starting on Wednesday when I shot off a couple of emails for my contemporary romance The High Bridge.

It was an interesting experience, writing that letter. I've been playing with my hook and my mini synopsis for several weeks and thought I had it down to a pretty eye-catching couple of sentences. But then came the dreaded "Why Are You The Best, Most Qualified Person To Write This Book?" paragraph at the end.

Sigh...Well...

Sigh...

I put it down as best I could, although I suspect it came across sounding a little "You're not good enough to write this book, so I have to do it myself" kind of attitude. If you want a romance story that involves back-country travel of abandoned railway right-of-ways through bear/mountain lion country, I'm your girl! Do you think Jackie Collins is going to know that the old Willys jeep is really pronounced "WILL ISS"? No! Will Nora Roberts know much about falling off a dirt bike when lightning strikes a nearby tree? N--- well, maybe, with some research.

The point is I know a lot about what I write for a novel. I don't know a lot about making ME sound like the only person qualified to do so.

You only have to make love once to no longer be a virgin. I've already received word (the dreaded "Dear Author" letter) that I'm no longer a virgin to the agency rejection system. I just don't want to be a rejection slut.

Time to rewrite the query letter, methinks. Need to learn a new way to talk 'big'.




WAG #20: The First Time” Everything we’ve ever done had a ‘first time’. Think of an activity (either of your own or something you observe of someone else) and write about the first time of that experience, and perhaps even compare it to subsequent experiences. Maybe even pick a moment that might have looked mundane from the outside, but made a significant change to the person experiencing it. Not a lot of rules, as usual… just let your imagination flow! www.indiadrummond.com