Wednesday Thoughts

You know that fall is really here when you put on pantyhose when you get dressed for work. I've finally admitted it's not summer anymore. The fall skirts are coming out of the closet, the cute tight sweaters, the stiletto heels. Meanwhile the sandals are back in their boxes on top of the closet and my cute summer outfits are hanging forlornly on their hangers.

The weather has been absolutely dysmal here in New York the past couple of days. I don't need to go to London, we're having London weather right here. Given up coffee for a good cup of tea. Which means Twinings, not Liptons which is little more than floor shavings.

Received another 'good' rejection letter last night from an agent that I had submitted the partial to last week. Gee, that was fast. It wasn't even a formal rejection letter. He'd just scribbled something on the letter I'd included with the partial. Something along the lines, of well-written, and I'm a very good writer, but they're not interested in the project. Yada-yada. You know the drill.

I decided to open up the spreadsheet and take a look at the submissions of Nearly Famous since the summer. In total, I've submitted this manuscript to about 30 agents. Out of that 30, I've had about 10 'good' rejection letters, 10 'Dear Author, we didn't really read your manuscript we're just sending it back to you anyway,' letters, and 10 rejections just from my query letter alone.

2 Agents still have the partial, as well as two editors at the moment. I still have to send the full to another agent, but after that I'm thinking it's time to put this baby to rest. Clearly this is not the book that's going to get me an agent or an editor. Maybe one day, when I'm published, I can yank it out and dust it off, perhaps even self-publish it, but not right now.

I took a workshop with Liz Maverick over the week at the NJRW conference called 'Writing the book of your smarts.' Great workshop. Liz suggested that you examine the marketplace and see what's selling, and write to the market. For example, paranormal is hot right now, so is erotica, and YA. Well, I love paranormal and I've actually written one, and I've also thinking of writing a YA but that's because I read widely in those genres.

She also suggests, and Jenny Crusie suggests this as well, that you target a particular editor. Lisa Valdez specifically targed Cindy Hwang at Berkeley. After hearing her speak, she knew that she'd found an editor who was like-minded. Truthfully, I've been spending so much time on the agent train, I haven't even thought of editors.

The one quibble I had with the workshop was the idea of submitting before you finished the book. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it makes sense and can save you from years trying to rewrite and rewrite a book. You'll know right away whether or not what you're writing is viable. Authors who are agented normally submit proposals or patials rather than a full.

On the other hand it can blow up in your face. I'm a seat of your pants plotter, and I'd have to really know where the book was going before I could even think of submitting before I finished the book. Not to mention writing the dreaded synopsis. I normally don't write that until after I finish the book. If I know that, and I'm pretty sure that I could get the book out there, if they wanted the full, then I'd do it. Plus, most agents can get pretty steamed if you're sending them a book you haven't finished. Isn't this really the big no-no?

So the big question I have is, is there a book of your heart that you just had to let go off? And what do you think about submitting before you finish the book.