Keep Calm and Write On

I've been reading and researching about how to get a novel published long enough to know that the average journey is no cake walk (or a cupcake walk, either). A lot of authors could probably wallpaper at least one wall of their home with the rejections they've received--and some of them could cover a room or two.

Of course, there are those other stories out there, too. The authors that walk out their front door one morning, trip over an agent lying on the sidewalk, sign with them on their way to get the paper and then get an awesome book deal on their way back to the house. Don't you just hate them? They tell you their story and want you to jump up and down and squeal with delight along with them over their incredible fortune. Instead, you are standing there thinking:  No! It was supposed to be me!

I don't really hate them. I probably would not have a completed manuscript if it weren't for them. There's nothing like other writers passing you by to light a fire under your butt and get you motivated. And no matter how effortless their success appears to be, nobody gets there without tons of hard work and persistence; writing a novel in itself is not an easy thing to accomplish.

So I've just begun querying agents and I'm entering a few contests, too. And I spend a lot of time COMPLETELY FREAKING OUT.
SERIOUSLY.

But I've found there's really only one cure for that.

So now I'm a few thousand words into my second novel . . .

Out There

I finally did it. I finished my middle grade sci-fi novel. Not only finished it, but placed my little darling carefully and lovingly up on the very edgiest edge of the nest and gave it just the slightest little PUSH.

Will it catch a gust of wind and soar to amazing heights? Will it sputter and flutter only to be spotted and then devoured and spit out, a partially digested snack for the cattiest of feline agents? Will it drop like a rock and just lie there kicking and weeping in the dirt? Or will it shoot straight up into space like a rocket and leave me choking on fumes and wondering what the heck happened?

It took me years to go from that first small kernel of an idea about a kid and a bit of science magic to realizing that it was more than just a short story to actually believing I could write an entire novel. Once I had set that goal for myself I kept writing, revising, writing some more, revising some more. And in those last few months: revising, revising, revising till I was almost ready to strangle the thing (not really), and then revising some more and then finally feeling like I was ready for someone else to see it.

Of course, after getting amazing feedback from a few writer friends (mostly about my seemingly random choice of verb tenses at times) I was again revising and revising and revising. And then finally: DONE.

And now, after the briefest of celebrations, I’m out there.

 

 

I made sure I met the “You Must Be This Tall to Ride” requirements and now I’m waiting in line for the biggest rollercoaster in Queryland.

My plans are to hang on tight and try not to barf.