Spring has finally sprung and it’s gorgeous outside. So, I’ll put aside my writing for a day or two and go out to enjoy the sunshine. Before I do that, I have written about how music plays an important role in my creative writing. As a writer, you write either fiction or nonfiction, you usually will use certain devices to get you in the mood to write. I use songs to get into the writing groove.
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I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to feast on one of my favorite thing to do: reading novels. I was deprived for quite some time after getting so engrossed in revising my manuscript. Now that the revision is almost complete, all I need is a little break to curl in the sofa with a book. I’m looking forward to be entertained, to be whisked away and to be swept into the hero and heroine’s world of conflict; and in the end presented with a happy ending when the main characters get together and live happily ever after.
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…And the replies trickled in… …rejection, rejection and more rejection. The anti-gray men’s hair TV commercial with the nasty buzzer kept playing over and over in my mind – REJECTED!
Then the next few emails asked for a partial. What? Are they serious? Yipeee!!!
Well, until I get a request for a full, I’m not so over it. And the waiting game goes on…
So that is pretty much what is happening in the land of writing. I’m used to hearing the word “rejected” considering my day job that deals with customers. In my early years in my handmade bag business, I came face to face with customers who see my beautiful handbags, touched them; slung them over their shoulders only to say right to my face, “This is easy. I can make this myself.” Next, “Eww, it’s not, that good,” and flung it back at me. My face turned red like a cooked shrimp. I wished I could be invisible and be like that other TV commercial that says, “Want to get away?…”
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Last year (only a couple of weeks ago) I blogged about my effort of writing the best query letter I possibly could. And I did. I was so proud of it and after rewriting and tinkering with it from every angle; I finally set about my plan to send it to literary agents.
Only I didn’t.
I had those nagging feelings that something is still not quite right, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I reread my query for what seemed about a million times until my eyes got crossed. The query was long, about two pages and the more I read it the more I hated it.
Then, I did the unthinkable. Read more
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So writer, what is your new year’s resolution? I’m sure if you plan to start writing the novel you have been hiding for so long, then this is the perfect time to go for it. Or if some of you still haven’t finished writing the one from last year, then get on with it and hurry.
Me? Well, I need to start the process of writing another novel this month. I’m sure the story is strong enough to reach the end. I hate it when I reach the middle then suddenly get stuck, run out of gas and don’t know what to do. I usually outline each chapter, but when I start to write them, suddenly the scenes I reserve for the next chapter get written and this leaves the next chapter empty. Before I know it, I am out of scenes.
If you have not written a novel, this may sound crazy, but who says the writing process is easy? Otherwise each of us could write a novel every month!
So here is my resolution for 2009:
It isn’t much, is it? I can do #2 for sure since I know what to expect based on what I’ve learned from writing and completing my previous manuscript. As for #1 and #3, wish me luck!
Go and let’s start work on our resolution.
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Here I am, sitting in front of the monitor, pissing at the blinking cursor in front of me. I did try to write my query letter. But all I get are complicated sentences that even the DH’s eyes started to glaze over while reading it.
Yeah, you know how it felt don’t you? I am talking to those who already published their debut or 100th novel out there. You’ve been there and done that. There is no mystery that writing the query letter taxes the business side of the writer—like me who now have to turn off the creative mind, turn it inside out and think like a business person—all to have a chance at marketing my novel through my query letter.
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I have just completed nanoing and have returned to my manuscript to continue revising. I noticed I have started to tinker around with it. So, I guess I’d better stop tinkering and move on to the next stage in my effort to establish myself as a writer, again, for the second time.
Seriously, I was kind of squinting at first when I stepped-out from my writing burrow into the open world. A writer is a loner when writing, but has to be social when they shop their manuscript around for an agent.
So this is what I’m doing right now. I did a lot of reading on my favorite novels to find out who the authors used for their agents. In fact, I had been doing my research during the summer, reading and building my short list of agents.
Now, I’m ready to shop.
So, if you haven’t finished your revision yet, finish it. And for those who are ready to look for an agent for representation, here are the steps I performed to assemble a list of agents I’m interested to send my query letter:
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At last…
…after three long and miserable weeks, the word count exceeded 50K and I finished my novel. What an experience. It was truly amazing despite all the kicking and screaming of excuses I made along the way to not write.
To Chris, the guy who’s behind all this madness, a big THANK YOU!
Do I have plan for the next year nanoing? Arrgggh…I don’t want to think about it, yet. I need to take a break in December. I still have my next huge task ahead and I’ll write about it in my blog.
Until then, keep writing.
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Yay!
My quest to write my 50K novel in one month at NaNoWriMo is going so smoothly I’m starting to feel a bit queasy. So far so good. Knock on wood. For the first week I was stumbling trying to find my writing rhythm. The story went so damn slow I almost gave up. But this is the best thing being a NaNoWriMo participant: my problem or issue, whatever I call it, is not unique. There is nothing special about what I have been experiencing during the first week of writing.
Practically everyone experiences the same problem—slow in starting to write, getting mad at their characters, not feeling like writing—let alone finishing to the end line of 50K words at the end of November. And everybody can vent their issues in the NaNoWriMo forum and get a response.
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Oh for the Lord of Muse.
I know it is coming. I am on Chapter Seven now and it’s starting to go downhill. I’m trying to find each and any excuse imaginable to get away from writing my Nano—you name it— writing content for my blog, writing emails, youtubing, attacking the DH, etc. Yet, I have no choice but to flop into my seat and drag myself to write one more chapter. Remember, it’s only thirty days to write a 50k word novel in NanoWriMo. I am racing against time so I’d better write or die.
Gah! This is crazy yet somehow so far I’ve managed to eke out roughly 1,500 words per chapter. Then it falls apart as I am not as motivated as I was on the first day of Nanoing. I wonder why? It’s not like I’ve never written a novel before. I had just completed my manuscript, but unfortunately it was completed at the end of October when I was planning to join the National Novel Writing Month. So I think it must be writing fatigue that has set in.
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