It has been a busy month for me, professionally and personally, so I apologize for being a day late with this update. In fact, I did not even proofread this post, so if there are mistakes I will catch them eventually. I know what you’re thinking. Why didn’t I write it ahead of time. There are two reasons why. One is that I am a writer, which means I procrastinate. It is a big part of being a writer. Don’t believe me? Type in “writer procrastinate meme” into your favorite search engine. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
The second reason had to do with the last post I put up, the one where I talk about pushing the submit button on a handful of queries. My original plan was to wait until June. I spent a lot of time researching and investigating literary agents and agencies. I wanted to be sure that the people whom I asked to consider representing me shared my overall mindset when it comes to storytelling. It was a tough process. I found many people who, from what my research revealed, held a different philosophy on writing and storytelling. So my initial list of over 100 names was slowly whittled down to 25. I did not delete the others – writers never completely erase anything – but I held them in reserve. There is only so much research can reveal, and there is always the chance that I was mistaken. For the moment, I have 5 queries out in the wild.
Ona side note, many queries ask for a synopsis, which is a complete summary of the story (including the ending). I’ve been trying to write one for this story but I’ve been struggling with boiling down the book into a thousand words. I may return to getting some outside help to get the synopsis right.
With querying prep taking up a lot of time in May, I fell behind on my actual writing. The focus for the month was on book 2 in the series, specifically one longer section. I’ve been working on the timeline for that section, rearranging and clarifying the order of events. Getting that right is key because this part of the story will play heavily in a decision made in the climax. So my writing goal for June is to complete that section of the story, which will set me up for the summer. That will leave a pivotal section of two chapters to reach the climax, a short set-up chapter as the protagonists have to relocate to stop the bad guy, and then the final three chapters to reach the end of book 2, which I am hoping to have done before school resumes in September (thus completing goal #3).
Speaking of my goals for the year, I also made some progress on number four, which entails being ready to start the third book in this series. I have had a collection of loosely connected scenes, themes, events and ideas for some time, but I have struggled with finding a suitable starting point and a cohesive narrative thread to run through them all. And then I had two moments of inspiration – both as I was trying to fall asleep, a common occurrence as any writer will tell you – that got the story on track. The first pertained to the beginning, getting the main plot off the ground and moving at the appropriate pace. The second involved the climax and the resolution of the events. This story walks a thin line when it comes to being respectful of a specific group of people, and I do not want it to come across as an indictment of any individual or that group, but rather as a brief exploration of some sad historical events, a way to show various viewpoints within those events, and offer a little insight into the struggles of a vital group of people within our nation. No matter how these books are published, I will be using an editor to evaluate this story for sensitivity. My goal is to entertain and open a door to discussion slightly.
A pair of final notes. I got a little bad news as Colynn’s Song was not selected by the publisher for inclusion in the anthology I submitted it to. Not a big surprise, but a slight disappointment. The good news is that it appears that we will at last get to see volume two in the We Suck at Comics series very soon, possibly by the end of June! I’ve seen a proof copy and it looks beautiful. I say it all the time and I mean it more every time I say it – I feel so honored to be a part of those books. The amount of talent that is found on those pages is staggering, and to have my little stories included is a humbling experience. Keep watching – you’ll be able to get your very own copy soon!
Lots of changes to that list of goals – let’s go!
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). Even though I a sending this out into the world now, I am still working on tweaking this book and trimming it down a little.
2 – I want to begin querying agents to see if I can publish that book, and its sequels, traditionally. I sent out the first five queries to agents! Woohoo! Technically this goal is complete, since it only says “begin querying,” but I think I might extend this out to a specific number or until I (hopefully) find someone to represent my story.
3 – I want to finish the first draft of book 2 in that series and go through at least 1 round of edits. I picked up steam with this after I tweaked the outline. Looking like the first draft will come in around 110K words.
4 – I want to have a completed outline for book 3 with an aim at starting the writing process this year as well. As I said above, I made some real progress on this in May.
5 – I want to have at least two short stories accepted for publication. Rejection sucks but I still have a lot of pieces completed that I feel could find a home. 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. Don’t even read this one. Seriously. I can’t get this one off the ground. I’m simply not a social media person. I need to find my happy place with this.