What has your writing road trip looked like so far? Excitement? Traffic Jams and detours? Where are you going next?
My writing road trip has been all of the above. Exciting, frustrating, hard, easy, fun, confusing... you name it, I've been there. Writing the first draft of Daze and Knights was almost easy. It took me about five months (which is a lot to some but not long at all to others- VERY fast for me). When I was done, I started to research the whole publishing business. And that's when I got really SCARED. I'm the kind of person where just the THOUGHT of something freaks me out. And then I get more and more freaked until finally I tell myself- JUST DO IT. And so I do it and realize, okay, that wasn't so bad after all.
When I first read about query letters, that's exactly how I was. I didn't think I could do it. And to be honest- my first couple of queries were AWFUL. And I was one of those stupid people who like to rush things (I think I mentioned this yesterday), so I started querying WAY TOO EARLY. My query sucked, I'd only edited Daze once... Yeah. Stupid.
I've learned my lesson. I hope (haha). It's taken me more than a year to perfect the query. I thought Daze was at its best too- which it was. At least, it was as good as I could get it after editing a bazillion times and having betas read it. But getting agent feedback has shown me yet more that can be fixed, tightened, bettered. So I've still got lots of work to do.
The one thing I've learned from my whole writing road trip? It is WORK. It won't come easy. And that's discouraging sometimes. But it's ENCOURAGING to know that I can do it- I can put in the work, the time, the effort, and that I won't quit. That's something I never knew about myself before. And if success never comes... well that's something I'll deal with later because for now- I'm still working at it.
Where am I going next? Well, here's my plan: Finish my WIP Sway. Edit it once then send it to some betas. While I'm waiting, go back to Daze and edit again, using those comments I got from the awesome agent. Then after that? I'll probably start something new.
And, if one day, I get "the call"... well, I'll probably DANCE, to this. Which is my oh-so-smooth segue into the 30 Day Song Challenge, Day 9: A Song I Can Dance To. (Which is pretty much any song but I had to narrow it down to something and this song always makes me want to shake something.)
Club Can't Handle Me- Flo Rida ft. David Guetta
Oh, goodness, I love the Flo Rida segue, lol. And what a great post and self reflection! Good luck with all your writing dreams!
ReplyDeleteShakin' it in my chair as we speak lol :) Great and inspiring post!
ReplyDeleteI read so much about query letters, I had to set myself a date to start querying otherwise I would have stymied myself into never querying, thinking the letter would never be good enough! And perhaps it still isn't--but it's as good as I can make it. Good for you for learning from your mistakes and taking the time to get things right. I hope all the time and effort pays off for you soon!
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