I DID IT!

I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! Have I mentioned that "I DID IT"? Wow, what a rush. Yesterday I re-read my query letter (yet again) and made what I think are really good changes. True, I had to dig deep for something to mention in the "me" paragraph, but I managed to toot my own horn a bit. When the letter was to my satisfaction, I pulled my synopsis back up, re-read that and managed to make it tighter and more to the point without losing the "sense" of what my book DEADLY LETTERS is all about. Finally I grabbed my Guide to Literary Agents 2009 and started going back over (for the 4th time) each and every one of the agents listings.

I only got through the "A's". I did say "started". You can't just read the agent's info, quickly scan to see if they are interested in your genre and then rush off that query. Have some respect for their position. You need to really "study" the agent's data. Go to their website where you can get a feel for who this agent is and details on how they want to receive submissions. Make sure that you are sending them exactly what they are asking for. Some agents only want the query, some want you to include your synopsis and some even want anywhere from the first 10 pages through the first 50. Every agent is different in their requirements. A few listed in the guide don't accept unsolicited manuscripts. I just moved on to the next one whenever I saw this notation. I also skipped any who didn't except electronic inquiries (just for now). I'm hoping when I incur mailing expenses it will be because an agent requests a copy of my entire manuscript to read.

I found what I felt were two good matches for what I've written and for what that agency is looking for. I'm still a newbie and this is a "debut" novel, so sometimes that hump can be tough to get over, but I know in my heart that there is an agent out there willing to jump off that cliff into publication with me, holding my hand the whole time and to whoever you are...I am eternally grateful.

The last major step in contacting agents...push the SEND button. Whew...that part was scary. But ya can't win the lottery if ya don't buy a ticket. Today...I start on the "Bs"! See ya on Monday!

INSTANT GRATIFICATION

We seem to live in a world today of "instant gratification". No one wants to wait for anything anymore. Fast food, faster internet connections, faster speed limits on our highways, build houses, make cars...faster...forget craftsmanship...just "get er done". We're raising a generation of impatient people.

If you are a writer you cannot be ruled by instant gratification. Writing anything worth reading is a slow, tedious process and you must move forward to "the end" one step at a time. Ideas have to incubate sometimes. They may seem wonderful when they first hit your brain's creativity spot, but if you give them some time to wander around in there...sometimes you may end up realizing that you need to move on to something else or change the way that idea popped up in your mind to begin with. It's okay. It's okay to not just run with everything that moves us. It's okay to throw some thoughts away. It's okay to re-arrange our thinking about stories and plots...till sometimes you won't even recognize them in the end.

When I started to write my "oooo-lala" novel I thought I had the story all lined up. I'd made a ton of notes and thought I knew exactly what this story and it's characters were about, where it would go and where it would end. But now, weeks later, I've let that story process for awhile in my brain and it is morphing even as we speak. Oh, the basic concept will be the same, but the end result will be so much better than I first imagined it. If I had leapt toward "instant gratification" this story would have been just bland, so-so and I would have missed out on an opportunity to create something I'd be really proud of.

So, if you're a writer, don't run toward the finish line. Move at a steady pace and if you need time to put your project on the back burner and let it simmer awhile, then that's okay too. Just don't let it sit there so long that it totally evaporates and you end up with nothing more than a burned pot.

PARADOXICAL

Don't ya just love big words? Who made these up? I recently took a Meyers-Briggs Personality Test on Facebook. The word "paradoxical" came up and I had to grab the dictionary. I was thrilled to see that it actually describes me to a "t"...I'm a paradox! I am contradictory to what people often think I am, I am certainly "absurd", a puzzle, a quiz...at times. I'm just really in love with this new word. I will be throwing it into my conversations constantly now.

I don't always use words exactly in the way the "inventor" meant for them to be used. I think some liberties should be taken with our language. It makes life interesting. Many years ago I took a Creative Writing course at a local community college and one of our assignments was to compare ourselves to a famous person. The majority of my classmates chose people you could find on any local TV station or in a celebrity magazine, but not me, oh no, I chose...Picasso. Why? Because he enjoyed thinking outside the box. His paintings were a "hodge podge" of colors, shapes and images that I feel are a great reflection to what is rumbling around inside my brain on a daily basis. I don't like predictability, but yet I like my life to be orderly...see there's that "paradox" thing again.

So come on fellow "paradox(s)" join me in the revolution to be absurd and contradictory. Life is so much more fun this way. Keep 'em guessing!

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY

All work and no play makes Debe a very dull writer. So I took the day off to play. Went to Topsail with my hubby who just got back from a four day trip. We placed our beach chairs close enough to the water's edge that the fringe of the waves would lap at our feet as it rushed toward the shore. What a wonderful way to stay cool on such a hot day.

I shared a story idea that I have for yet another novel with my husband and he liked it, so I'm going to start working on an outline...but not BEFORE I get those query letters sent to at least 30 agents regarding my completed work "Deadly Letters".

Fellow writers, do you ever feel that ideas are just vomiting (what a lovely word but appropriate for what I'm feeling) out of your brain insisting on being given a voice and being heard...but you have to "pace" yourself? That's so hard for me to do. I've got one completed manuscript, two others that I've started and here I go again...coming up with yet another idea. I'm gonna blame this one on a good friend though, who suggested I write a certain style of manuscript and then I couldn't seem to get past that and before I knew it I was coming up with a concept and started writing it in my head. As Scotty used to say "steady as she goes Captain." I need to slow down a little or nothing will ever truly come to fruition.

So my day of "rest" was good for me. I got to spend a lovely day with my beloved husband and although I shared my idea for yet another "novel" plot with him...I now know in what order I will be finishing each of these manuscripts I have started, while I sit and wait on responses to my queries.