Friday, August 31, 2012

It's official!

My novel got it's very first rejection letter in the mail. That was quick and dirty.

What? You thought someone wanted to see more? Not yet. Three more queries are still out in limbo.

It's funny. I saw my SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope) in my mailbox and got super nervous. Hands shaking and shit. The weird part? I think I was more nervous that they would want to see more than the thought of straight up rejection. This may sound funny and counter to the fact that I really do want people to read what I write (and love it). I know I've mentioned this before, but my writing is the most me I can be. So, to share me with so many people is scary. Basically, it's easier to be rejected by one, than by a whole readership.

So, you want to know more about this rejection letter, right? Well, it's printed on high class off white paper that has the water mark firmly in the center. It has a classy letterhead with a super cool agency font. It is very tactful, and a form letter in every way. While I will not say who it is from, I will transcribe the body of the text into this blog to show yo what I mean. The type in red indicates my remarks. Here it is below:

Dear Author,
(I read it at least three times before I realized they didn't even put my name on it. However, and I quote, they called me an "Author". Hey, I'll take it!)

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to look at your work.

With PERSON'S NAME full client list, she can only take on projects that are an absolutely perfect
fit and I'm afraid this isn't it.
(Not exactly sure how to take this, and I would read into it a lot more if it wasn't an obvious form letter; having little to do with whether it's style/idea/writing that isn't absolutely perfect. BUT without reading ANY of my story, it can't be my writing or style. Hell, it may not even be my idea, it may just have been they didn't like my query or I didn't summarize a novel well in less than two pages)

Thank you for sending us your query, and best wishes for you project's success.

Sincerely,

ANOTHER PERSON'S NAME
On behalf of PERSON
(The agent I was interested in most likely didn't even see my query. This other person didn't think it was a fit. I wish I had known about OTHER PERSON, to see what she is interest in too.)


Needless to say, this may be a very tricky process. However, there is still a bunch of hope. I only need one agent, not four (or however many I end up sending out).



Friday, August 24, 2012

End of the Year - Minimum Word Count Goal

I have played with the numbers and came up with, what I believe to be, a realistic word count goal.

Here's the "math"

(minimum) 500 words per day X (minimum) 6 days per week X (approx) weeks left in the year = (minimum) 52,080 words

I expect to try (for the first time ever) NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). From what I gather, to succeed, one must write 50,000 words in November. I will be on a cruise that last week in November, so we'll see how that goes.

Is it possible?

A) To reach my minimum goal -- with ease. I can crank out 500 words in less than an hour. I just lose focus and get distracted.
B) NaNoWriMo -- apparently it is. Some people write well over 50,000 in the month, so if they can write well over, I should be able to do it in three weeks, technically.

I will keep #WordCountWednesdays going strong on twitter. I am already well prepped to beat out last weeks word count if I just keep up what I've done yesterday and today.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Writing Contest

So, today on my Twitter feed, @WritersDigest informed me of the Pop fiction writing contest. So I thought:

A) What a great way to get my name out there - WIN the contest
B) I could use a section from my sequel novel and people will read it, love it, and want to read the novel
C) I know the perfect part to include
D) I need to write this perfect part
E) Parts of novels can be made into short stories - Ralf Ellison's "Battle Royal" From Invisible Man
F) 4,000 words? I can write that in a week or two
G) Can I make this list as long as the alphabet
H) Do I want to? (make it as long as the alphabet)
I) Challenge accepted.
J) If I win the whole thing, I get to go to NYC to the Writer's Digest Conference
K) And win $$$$
L) I really just want people to read my stuff
M) But, I would like to go shopping
N) Maybe I'll have an agent by then
O) Maybe my first novel will be in the process of being published by then
P) Maybe I'll still need both and it'll be a good opportunity to meet said people
Q) Or, I may not have either nor win
R) Quiet the negative thinking
S) I can do this (make it to the end of the alphabet)
T) I have lots of random thoughts
U) I should be writing this story/novel part
V) I should read the official contest rules
W) Read the rules, they retain one time publishing rights. Works for me.
X) I shouldn't have made the second cup of coffee
Y) Hazelnut coffee = so good though
Z) Sorry for the randomness (Sorry you read it - unless you're amused, then you're welcome)


Tuesday, August 21, 2012

I wish I could draw/paint/do any sort of visual art

I want to see the world I'm creating. I want to show it to others. I know, I know. I'm doing it through words. I can see it in my head. It's beautiful. It's alien. It's unique (?). It's familiar. Maybe some day, someone will paint it, do a charcoal rendition of it, or water colors perhaps. I will happily post these pictures on my blog. Someday, I will share my fan art with the world.

Monday, August 20, 2012

It's out of my hands.

The queries I had to mail are in the hands of the USPS now. I was no joke fighting tears on the way to the Post Office. Scary Stuff. It's my first real baby. I have sent a few short short stories, but it's not the same. This was a longer gestation period than a human baby, and I had to piece together the DNA bit by bit. Creator. I love it. I want to live in it. I am it.

I'm excited about "Book 2". It's way more fun than the first one, in terms of writing it. It's also harder, I think. I'm making even more up. Well basically a whole World with it's people, customs, traditions, landscapes, technology and such. Super awesome! I'm trying to immerse myself in this, so that I don't freak out for the next months(?) about how these agents will respond to me. Can't dwell in what I have no control over.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Email Queries Sent

First round queries out today and tomorrow. Since the Post Office is closed today, the snail mail ones have to wait a day.

In case you're wondering: I am a nervous wreck. So much so, that I'm sure one of the agents I sent a query to will reject me plainly because I didn't follow exact protocol. What did I do? I sent it to the wrong email address. I had the correct one written down, but typed it incorrectly. One would think that it just would get lost in cyberspace, never to be read or answered. But no, I immediately got an out of office reply to bring light to my error. It inadvertently was another one of her email addresses, just not the query one. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I don't have that one written down anywhere, just happened to be bad luck. I have corrected my mistake, but now the email has been sent twice - doah.

I've been slacking on my writing this weekend. The hubs and I went out Thursday night with friends, Friday the dogs had to go to the vet- poor Alex hates her temperature being taken, and Saturday I got The Hunger Games DVD! So, I have to play some catch up.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

#WordCountWednesdays

Yesterday, I thought up a new(?) concept: #WordCountWednesdays. The thought behind it is every Wednesday I will post my weekly word count on Twitter. As anyone who reads this knows, I started the sequel novel (to the book I'm about to send queries out for) on Tuesday. This is my way of holding myself accountable (to everyone) for working on it. It would be a lie if I didn't admit to being extremely distractable. My Pinterest account doesn't help that, nor does Facebook, Twitter, this blog or Yahoo news.

Anyway, I invite everyone interested to join me for #WordCountWednesdays. I am just including words I write for the novel but feel free to count any and all words you want to. I would love to make a cool graphic for everyone to post and share and shit. Sadly, I have no graphic artistic abilities. I invite anyone who is interested to make a graphic for us all. I will blog, Tweet, and Facebook about how great you are if you do.

I'm @tinarazz on Twitter, for those of you who want to follow. You can follow my blog to, I know I have a lot more page views. Go ahead, make it official.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

It's started

I can't freak out about my first book any longer, because I have officially started book 2. No, I haven't sent the queries out yet. My deadline (for myself) is Friday and I have someone looking over them for me at the moment. How far in to the second book? (You ask) 198 words. But, to be fair, I outlined what will probably be the whole first chapter before I started., I also did a bit of research, to make sure my science was or could be accurate.

In other news: Twitter baffles me. It seems like it may be the quick and dirty way to network with real life writers and audiences around the world. Which is awesome! I mean seriously. SERIOUSLY. However, I'm so green that I'm afraid I'm going to commit some faux pas that banishes me from the Twitter World. (Which is a totally fun alien world where we are all pretty blue birds that fly around tweeting.) Obviously.

Anyway, I'm going to make another cup of coffee and get back to writing.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Attention.

It's come to my attention that some people who read my blog seem to think I am very hard on myself. I want to share with everyone something that my favorite author told me. (OK, he wrote it in a book and I read it - really it's the same thing) He said:

"Writers have to simultaneously believe the following two things:
1. The story I am now working on is the greatest work of genius ever written in English.
2. The story I am now working on is worthless drivel."

He suggests this is true because you need to believe #1 when you decide whether to mail a story out, #2 when revising the story, #1 when choosing where to submit it, #2 when it's rejected, and #1 when you send it back out again.

Orson Scott Card (my favorite author), speaks to my heart. I have always believed both of these, but being told that it's OK makes me feel slightly less crazy. So, now I hope it makes a bit more sense as to why I am harsh on myself. And I know what some of you may be thinking, "Tina, you don't act like you believe #1." My answer to you is this, by writing this blog and telling you that I wrote a novel and am getting ready to send it out to agents I am fulfilling that belief. I would never tell anyone, especially ALL of the internet (hey, they can read it if they want to) that I am writing a book if I didn't believe I was pretty damn fantastic, original, and that I will have a book on your hometown bookstore shelves some day soon.

The book I referred to above is: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy -by Orson Scott Card. It's pretty amazing, as are all of the books by him that I have read.
How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy


Sunday, August 12, 2012

Twitter.

I've broken down and gotten a Twitter account. I was amazed to see that the @tinarazz handle was free, so I grabbed it right up. I have little idea of what I'm doing, but with my query letters getting closer to complete, I figured it was time to follow, retweet, and be followed.
So go ahead and follow. Suggestions/criticisms? I'll take them.




Writing news:

-I have narrowed to four agents I will query. Two email. Two snail mail.
-I think my synopsis is too long, by about 8 1/2 pages? idk

Goal for the week: Get the queries out! AHHHHHHHH

Saturday, August 11, 2012

done.

Yes, the synopsis. If I am allowed to consider something that I haven't read over as done . . .

Ok. The hard part is done. It's there in black and white.

My question is: Why the hell does anyone want to read one? How can anyone tell if a book will be good? Seriously, it's cut down to: this happens, then this happens, she feels this way, he feels this way. How can I convince anyone it is well written, a master piece perhaps, when all of my characterization is cut out. How can anyone like characters who just do things? I don't think I even like my novel right now. I surely don't like my characters. The only part I do like about it are my first two paragraphs, which read more like a book cover. Maybe I should read over it.

How long is it supposed to be anyway? I've got like 9 1/2 pages. Too long? Too short? I need Goldilocks perfection here.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Synopsis?

It's harder to write about my novel that it was to write the damn thing. I want to bang my head against my metal desk and listen to my grey matter squish out of my ears and flop on the ground. (and poke my eyes out with the scissors). The craziest thing: it's effort for all the rejection letters I will get. Maybe I should just write myself a rejection letter and get on with writing the next novel.

Here it goes:

Dear Ms. Morris,
We regret to inform you that your novel entitled, (Whatever the final title will be), is not a good fit for our agency/publishing company. First, it's not Science-fictiony enough. We are looking for aliens with green skin, teleportation devices, and flying saucers. Second, your characters have stupid names and worse characterization. Third, your synopsis sucked, therefore, your writing must as well. Fourth, we don't like your name. It's simply not publishable. Fifth, we are honestly not sure where you live since your query was mailed from one state, your synopsis from another and your phone number is from neither. Sixth, we don't see where it could go after this. There is simply no potential. Seventh, I have a headache and actually didn't read beyond the first sentence. Eighth, you suck. Ninth, your novel isn't long enough. Tenth, simply put: no one will read it.

We hope we have provided you a clear enough explanation of why you and your writing are not a good fit for us. Feel free to submit again, when you get a clue.

Sincerely,
Some evil witch who hates all life

Ok, now that I have written the worst rejection letter I can think of (to myself), I feel a bit better. In fact, I highly suspect this will be the most original rejection I receive. (That is not a challenge). But if you are reading this, and planning on rejecting me anyway - go for it.

On that note: back to my synopsis (attempt)

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Organizing My Thoughts

Visually, organizing my thoughts that is. New white dividers in my white binder. Freshly printed chapter by chapter outline. I'm working on typing up my character information from the random loose-leaf paper, sticky notes, and ripped journal pages strewn about.

In other new: I have written two versions of the query letter (so far).

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Outline Complete

15 pages, 5,600+ words later and the outline to my novel is finished. I'm very happy about this because it will be much easier to work with 15 pages to write a synopsis rather than 224 pages.

Up next: Synopsis, Query Letter(s), and Cover Letter

Long term: Begin to outline the next book.

I'm not typically one to do outlines for stories/novels. However, I have a lot of directions I could go and I think outlining will help me determine which directions I want to go in next. Even if I don't follow it exactly, I'm hoping that it will save me some time.