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Showing posts with label submissions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label submissions. Show all posts

Friday, 3 February 2012

It's waaaaay too cold to write a query letter


I don't think my brain really functions properly in cold weather. My fingers certainly don't and I can't afford to have the heating on during the day (don't worry, Lady M is dressed up like an Alaskan tree surgeon in the dead of winter). 
 
Still, I have struggled on towards my goal of SUBMISSION. 

I had a list (of course) of submission to-dos:
  • write a 25 word hook
  • write a query letter pitch paragraph
  • write a one page synopsis
  • write a two page synopsis
  • write a writer bio paragraph (this was woefully short - a sentence. And a short one at that.)
  • Print out and do a FINAL edit on first three chapters
  • Decide on three agents to submit to
Phew. Note how many have been crossed out - yay me! Just a final run through of the first three chapters and I will be ready to go. Well, the actual physical product will be ready to go, I will not. I doubt that I will ever be ready to go but with my fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed and my hair in a thousand plaits, I will hit the send button on Monday, having spent some of the weekend editing those chapters. 

However, I do have a rather busy weekend ahead of me. I'm seeing Russell Kane tomorrow night, taking Lady M to the grandparents on Saturday to co-host my sister's baby shower (for which I will be spending much of tomorrow baking), spending the night and then coming home early(ish) so that I can go and usher a dance performance at Didcot's Cornerstone Art Centre. Hmmm. That leaves very little time for editing. Better get a move on then really, hadn't I...


Tuesday, 6 December 2011

It's crunch time.

I have a strange attraction to ever moving goal posts. I seem to remember that last summer, two of my writing buddies and I promised each other that we would submit work by the end of the year. Ummm. That didn't happen. So, then I was going to do it by the end of the summer. No. Didn't happen. Then, I thought I would do it by the end of November. Silly, silly me. I do know why I keep doing it though. I'm not good at dealing with rejection. Which, y'know, is monstrously stupid because I have to learn how to accept rejection gracefully if I want to be a published author.
I need to go and read my last post and just man up, don't I?
Luckily, I use this same set of goal posts for losing weight, so they're multi-purpose. I suppose I could use them for other things too, like sorting out the loft and doing a car boot with the multitude of things gathering dust and mould up there or watching the third season of Dr Who so that I can give it back to the friend who owns it and wanted to watch it the other day but couldn't. Oh and many, many other things. I told you I have big to-do lists... 

So. My new set of goal posts for submitting to agents are... drum roll - by Christmas. This year. Now, don't scoff into your mince pies and mulled wine. I've written the Christmas cards, the presents are (mostly) being organised by my wonderful siblings (yay siblings!) and Christmas is at the parental house so there's no agonising over what to cook for how many people?!!? 

The soon-to-be-submitted MS is mostly ready. I need to do a quick run through for grammar, spelling, continuity and go over the edited first few chapters but after all that is done - I will have no more excuses. None. Apart from, no, I'm just kidding. *not really though. Yes, really. Honestly. I promise.*

In other news, I went to see Daniel Sloss on Saturday at the lovely Didcot Cornerstone. Didcot is very lucky to have this wonderful facility in it's midst and if you live in the South of Oxfordshire, you really should check out their programme - here  

Daniel was supported by Kai Humphries and they were both very, very funny. I laughed until I cried and, although some people weren't too impressed by the battle-rapping, I thought it was pretty cool! I would definitely recommend you see either or both of them - word of warning, if you don't like your comedy with a large side of swearing or anti-God jokes, these two are not for you! 

Here they are, signing stuff and cosying up to the teenage girls who made up a large part of the audience (well, Daniel Sloss in only 21 - yes, join me in weeping at how much of an old, underachieving loser you feel now).





Oh yes, I almost forgot! I have declared myself a NaNoWriMo rebel winner. I do feel a bit bad for including to do lists and suchlike in my word count but whatever. A winner I am!
Well, what with the whole 'submissions by Christmas' thing, I really had better get cracking on the final edit! I may well have a new writing project to start too - a friend of mine wants to use her experiences to write a book but says she isn't a writer, so we are thinking of collaborating on it. Should be good fun and the subject matter is right up my street! It will have to be put aside until the New Year, of course...