Writerly stuff
My parents and Eric have been reading All's Fair, and it seems the pacing is off... and I'm not sure how to fix it. But the good news is that the characters and dialogue are great. So, basically, I just need to clean up the plot. Which isn't the easiest part, but I've always sort of known something like this might happen: I get all super-confident and think I'm finally ready to go out there and get an agent, and then I realize there's yet more work to do. I had an "I-give-up" moment last week, but I recovered.
To get some new eyes and experienced help, I've applied and been accepted for Sacha Whalen's YA/MG mentorship program. It runs for two months, and I get critiques/advice/introductions to the publishing world from a published author (Alma Alexander, in my case, but each mentee has someone different). I'm really excited for this opportunity. Following agents and authors on Twitter has been one of the best social networking-related career moves I've ever made.
I've drafted and redrafted my query letter, and I'll have to draft it probably a few more times. (violet_shade, I'll be sending you a draft soon. I just want it to be good.) I discovered during my query research that sometimes it takes people longer to write a good query letter than it does to write the book! The book took nine years, on and off, and if my query takes that long I'll probably give up. But it won't take that long. Nope. It won't.
I'm also working on a short story for Crossed Genres, but I'm not sure about that Sept. 30th deadline. We'll see how it goes.
I have an interview and an article coming out at the end of September and beginning of October, respectively. And have you seen my first literary journal review yet? There are more to come!
Yay for words!
To get some new eyes and experienced help, I've applied and been accepted for Sacha Whalen's YA/MG mentorship program. It runs for two months, and I get critiques/advice/introductions to the publishing world from a published author (Alma Alexander, in my case, but each mentee has someone different). I'm really excited for this opportunity. Following agents and authors on Twitter has been one of the best social networking-related career moves I've ever made.
I've drafted and redrafted my query letter, and I'll have to draft it probably a few more times. (violet_shade, I'll be sending you a draft soon. I just want it to be good.) I discovered during my query research that sometimes it takes people longer to write a good query letter than it does to write the book! The book took nine years, on and off, and if my query takes that long I'll probably give up. But it won't take that long. Nope. It won't.
I'm also working on a short story for Crossed Genres, but I'm not sure about that Sept. 30th deadline. We'll see how it goes.
I have an interview and an article coming out at the end of September and beginning of October, respectively. And have you seen my first literary journal review yet? There are more to come!
Yay for words!