Susan Dennard
I want to mention two things before I answer this week's question. FIRST: Don't forget about Camp NaNoWriMo. We have a forum started up for the event. :)SECOND: In case y'all aren't aware, I'm a permanent mentor on the First Five Pages Workshop--meaning I critique there every week. If you're looking for help polishing up your first 5 pages, then definitely join!Now, onto a question from the Daydreamer forum:
I’ve revised and rewritten my novel to a point where I’m finally querying. It’s quite a different process–I know you’ve broken down the logistics of querying on your blog, but I’d like to ask you about the querying “mindset” (or any kind of submissions mentality), if you will–about how to stay strong through the process, whether to focus on querying or divert your attention to a new project while you query on the side, etc.Ah, waiting. It's a miserable game of mind over email when you're in querying limbo, and "staying strong" is so much easier said than done.But...you gotta stay strong. And you gotta stay patient. Because traditional publishing is just one GIANT vortex of waiting.If you're not waiting to hear back from agents, then you're waiting to hear back from editors while you're "on subs" (a.k.a. on submissions). Or you're waiting to get paid (2 times a year is pretty rough), or you're waiting to hear what the heck is happening at your publisher--with the edits, with marketing/publicity (if you have any; most authors don't), with the cover, with everything. Or your waiting to learn about a foreign sale. Or a bookstore event...Or, or, or.Seriously, most of an author's life (at least in traditional publishing) is filled with WAITING. And refreshing your inbox. So learning to use that time wisely now is an invaluable skill. And when I say "use that time wisely", I mean write another book.Don't write a sequel (because if the first book never sells or drastically changes in editorial revisions, then you've just wasted your time), but write something. A new series. A standalone. A novella. A bunch of short stories. Writes as many projects as you can. As soon as you finish one, move to the next.It's very possible that your first book won't sell (I can name as many authors whose first book never sold as I can the other way around). You'll have waited all that time for an agent, and then you'll have waited all that time on subs, and then the book will never have gotten a bite. So you MUST have another project--and another and another--ready to go. This is a marathon, baby! Even if we stumble after the first mile, we gotta get back up and keep going!It's very possible, of course, that rejection won't happen on your first book. You could snag the agent and then the book deal. BUT, rejection is still a major possibility later in your career. In fact, it's a possibility for your entire career. I never know if I will sell another book/series. It's ALWAYS a gamble. Why, a coauthor friend and I had a book on subs, and after 6+ months of waiting and rejection, we gave up on it. Not in an unhappy way, but in a "we-have-ten-billion-other-projects-and-we're-ready-to-try-those-now-thank-you" way.Publishing is a business, and being an author is a job. You want more books up your sleeves than you can even deal with right now. It impresses agents; it impresses editors and publishers; it makes readers happy; and it will make YOU happy.Because there will be that day when you're burned out and not sure you have the energy to write another book, but lo-and-behold! You'll have all these understudies waiting in the wings! You can just scroll through your finished/half-finished projects and pluck one out to hand to your agent/editor. Career = saved.So whatever you do: use this wait-time to write more stuff. :)Now, to wrap up the Daydreamer's section, here are the best writing-related articles I read this week
Increase your Writing Productivity: the power of Realism, Reset, and Record (that's from me; hope it's okay to include)
Heal Yourself, Skeletor (this has zilch to do with writing...but is amazing)
And don't forget: if you have a writing-related question, you can ask me in this forum!
Okay, I'm off to work on Truthwitch! I have a blog post for Pub(lishing) Crawl on Monday that will be alllll about writing endings (to answer your question in the forums, Sue!), about re-writing endings, and crafting a big KAPOW!