Wel all need a little help sometimes; maybe with something trivial, maybe with something life-altering, maybe something in between, but there comes a point in everyone’s life when they need to seek out advice from someone with more knowledge or experience. It is said the hardest part is admitting you need that help and having the courage to seek it out and accept it. I am proud to say I have gotten through that difficult step.
As I wrote last month, I took that leap on a bit of a spontaneous whim. I have known for a while that I needed help and that the help I needed was out there. All I needed to do was gather what I needed and press that pesky submit button. I did it. I pushed the button. It was a relief, a burden, and a thrill all at once. But now the process is done. Two talented and generous people took the time to give me their views on my queries, and now I can say that I have not one but two letters I feel comfortable sending to agents and publishers.
I found my two editors on Reedsy. I found the marketplace easy to navigate and customize, the rates for my two editors were lower than I expected, and they both had my review done quickly. Their suggestions were incredibly helpful. They both cut right to the issues I had, pointed out the positives and the negatives of each letter – I sent three, though the last was more experimental, odd and, as they both said, not really good for sending out – and helped me craft queries that will (hopefully) represent me and my story better. I effusively thanked them both for their assistance and promised/threatened to look for them again if I needed more help.
The first few days of April were spent processing and parsing that information, crafting and editing my letters until they reached they current polished form. Now that I feel more confident with that element of the process, it has motivated me to push through another round of edits for book one. It takes time, ripping apart 100K words to find errors, typos, redundancies, and extraneous bits. There is a lot of reading out loud, using tools to search for specific words and phrases, and referring to old drafts to see which version of a sentence or scene works best. I’ve written a blog piece about editing that may (someday) find its way here.
The rest of the month was a sort of mash-up of various things. I changed some story points for book two and had to re-draft a few conversations that I had sketched out to reflect those changes. I cleaned up an old piece I wrote for my writing group – it was actually written in response to the first monthly prompt we had, Spring, and was inspired by some of the pagan mythology of the equinox and Easter – and presented it this month. It got a good response, enough that after a little polishing I may post it on my Writing page. I submitted Colynn’s Song for consideration in Fall into Fantasy 2025. I ran an editing pass over The Weiralla and tightened up some spots.
And I spent a few days taking down notes for an entirely new YA story, this one a light science fiction story which, depending on how deep it goes, could be one book or several. That is a pitfall for many authors, one I am determined to avoid: not finishing one story because new ideas come around. I will not abandon the current series, but I will continue to compile notes and notions for this story so that when the day comes, I am ready to write almost immediately.
This has run long and the persnickety AI that evaluates all my blog posts will be giving me red marks to make me aware of that fact. But since I am writing this as much for myself as I am for whoever might be reading, I don’t really mind that my posts are getting longer. Unless you complain about it. And you won’t, right? Thanks.
Goal review!
1 – I want finish editing book one of my YA series to the point that I consider it good enough for publication (it probably won’t be, but I want to get it as far as I can take it). I have begun that process by using one of the author’s best friends – the “Find” tool in word. It can be a laborious process when sifting through 100K words, but it is highly effective.
2 – I want to begin querying agents to see if I can publish that book, and its sequels, traditionally. See above – my decision to have my queries reviewed has made a big difference.
3 – I want to finish the first draft of book 2 in that series and go through at least 1 round of edits. I slowed down a little with this, but I will still get this done this year.
4 – I want to have a completed outline for book 3 with an aim at starting the writing process this year as well. I already have the basic idea for this story and a theme to work with. I also have a few notes and ideas for pieces I want to include, but like any series some things will be contingent upon what came before (and what I know comes after) so finishing book 2 must happen first.
5 – I want to have at least two short stories accepted for publication. I have one story out for consideration and at least three that I feel are ready for a chance to shine. It’s just about finding the proper place for them.
6 – I want to extend my visibility as far as social interactions and publicity goes. I need to post more. I know this. I am drafting posts so I can get ahead and then release them slowly, giving me time to craft more without pressure. Admittedly, I am way behind on this.