Hi, guys!
Another busy week and busy weekend. The signing yesterday went great. I didn’t sell out, but I certainly didn’t have too many books left when it was over.
I’m working on editing the manuscript (what’s basically my second draft) and trying desperately to get through it completely. After that, I’ll have to enter the changes (I hate this part of writing! But I can’t edit on the screen.), then read-thru it one more time. Wish me luck! I know there is an aspect of this book I’m missing and I’m trying hard to find it and tweak things….
I promised a note on the comments about fear and publishing. My moment of awakening came after my mother’s diagnosis and treatment for cancer. I’d been writing, submitting, and being rejected for a while. And after the reality of her illness hit and I realized I might be watching my MOM die, it hit me. I was holding back. I wasn’t enjoying those little moments, I was focusing on the non-important things. As to writing, I wasn’t getting deep enough, wasn’t being honest enough, to really delve deep. My characters were cardboard cutouts and not real. I wanted real. I wanted emotion. But how to get it?
And my next question? What was I waiting for?
The editors aren’t going to knock on your door. No one is going to send that book out there for you. The fact is: either you want it, or you don’t.
Can’t get more honest than that, eh?
Well, I wanted it. I was witnessing first-hand how precious life is (my mom is a six year survivor) and how it could be altered or gone in an instant. Fear? Watching someone you love be injected with poison, that’s fear.
The editors? The publishers? They’re people. They’re business. They’re not the be all and end all, God is. What was I afraid of?
With that knowledge tucked away in my brain, I began writing MAN WITH A PAST. I had submitted Montana Secrets and it was under consideration (and being rejected), and this time period took place in the months between submitting it, and writing something new.
I poured my heart into that book. No fear. In the meantime, Montana Secrets sold and my editor wanted another book. I sent her MAN WITH A PAST (my working title was HER NAME WAS JOSIE) and couldn’t believe it when she later told me that while describing the book in a meeting with the other editors and Powers That Be, she teared up just trying to recap the story.
Oh, yeah. That was a good feeling!
So, what are you waiting for? All they can do is say no. And if they do? You read the rejection, fix the problems and submit again. You write something new, you submit it, and then you write some more. Study your craft, study the market, read, read, read and then WRITE. Writers write. It’s what we do. And you either want it, or you don’t. It really is as simple as that.
Don’t let fear hold you back. WHY would you? Time is precious and it’s slipping by. Take a chance. This is your life and you need to experience it to the fullest. Go for it. Do it. WRITE IT. And when you publish? Send me a note and let me know because I want to read it.
Kay
Kay
I have a lot of rewriting/polishing to do, but the first draft of Alexandra’s story, the last of the Tulanes of Tennessee, is finished. :box: It took me longer than I thought it would, but round one is done. Bring on the rewriting!