Tag: Publishing

The (Apparently) Annual Update

Let’s start by saying that things don’t always go according to plan.

If you’re looking for many words of inspiration, you won’t find them here. No, instead you’ll find a plethora of reasons as to why I have been unable to get published. I’ll skip through them and cut straight to the chase, I needed a breather.

You see, writing is a labor of love and self-abuse. You write something you love, then you make it look like you meant to write it the way that you did. Then you tidy up your grammar, make vital cuts, and rewrite until your fingers ache. At some point, I think I began to tell myself that my story wasn’t up to scratch, that despite all of the fantastic and glorious feedback I’d received, somehow my book was awful.

So I edited it.

Then edited some more.

I cut a character; a dangerous game when you’ve written two novels set after book one.

I did this until I finally backed away after rejection #(Still in double digits somewhere) and just stepped away from submitting to agents. Then, I stepped away from the book completely. I stepped away from writing completely.

I changed careers, loving my new job when they suddenly announced a change that will dramatically affect my work/life balance. I put my head in my hands and I felt my pulse race. Not again. I ran my fingers through what little hair I do have. Not again.

Now I sit on the precipice of yet another decision. Stick with the new job and sacrifice 6 hours a week with my son? Or find work elsewhere as the company is refusing to budge on their decision.

Whatever happens, I opened the door to my writing room once again and peered in, a physical and visual representation of my mind. Books stacked every which way. A half-finished wooden globe beckoning to be finished. Two hourglasses sit, mocking the time I’m wasting. I sit the three new books I bought from work on a pile and move globe pieces from my usual writing chair.

***

Odd to come back to a half written post a few months later.

No, I’m still not published. No, I still haven’t gotten back into my writing routine.

However…

I’ve made a deal with a fellow writer to help push her to add more to her manuscript in preparation for a Varuna Fellowship next year. I’m going to edit at ten times whatever she writes. Yes, I hate myself that much. But also, she has stretch goals including me cutting and rewriting chapters. If she keeps ahead of target, I’ll keep pushing like I’ve got a month to live. Essentially, if she finished above 30,000 words, I should have edited and rewritten a brand new draft of my book next month. Don’t worry everyone… the energy drinks are on the way. So is the printed and bound manuscript I’ve ordered for such an occasion. Made me feel good when Officeworks called to say the book was too big for the thermal binding. Then I also started sweating. NaNoWriMo is more NaNoEdMo for me. I just hope I survive.

Also, because trying to edit and rewrite a novel isn’t enough, me and my wife are looking into buying a secondhand bookshop. It’s been on the cards to run our own business for a long time and we always put things off like buying property, investing, skipped over buying a business not too long ago, and now… here we are. This may not be the exact opportunity we’ve been looking for, but it also very well may. Anyway, for now I’ll be editing… if I get a chance, I’ll try and pop by here at least a little bit more frequently!

My First Query Letter Attempt

So… Hindsight… 20/20… Yadda Yadda.

I imagine the folks at HarperCollins who may have received my manuscript for Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse most likely opened the file for a single moment before deleting it. Harsh right?

No.

In fact, now, I wouldn’t blame them.

I kind of let my excitement and nerves get in the way of rationale and sanity. When I sent it through, first I hoped I’d sent the right file. Second, I hoped I’d sent the right story. Third, I abandoned all hope and wrote the whole ordeal off as a mistake. Back to square one? Don’t mind if I do!

Fast forward… uhh… to a few weeks ago. I started getting Writer’s Digest emails because I’d been looking at their Writer’s Market books. This all stemmed from my partner asking her favorite author, Diana Gabaldon, for some advice on writing for me. She actually replied and with some good tips to boot! On her recommendation, I began to look into the Writer’s Market books but couldn’t take the plunge. Just too expensive in my mind and I couldn’t really get a feel for what they were actually about.

As if by some divine guidance, an email dropped into my inbox.

Now 75% Off! 2017 Writer‘s Market Books!

75%?! That had to be wrong. I mean, I know the 2018 editions are coming soon but 75%? That meant I could get five books from there including shipping and it would cost me less than two of them with free shipping from Book Depository (let’s not even talk local bookstore pricing, yeesh). The order was placed with the support and approval of my lovely partner (who by now was wondering why I hadn’t already bought them).

Shut-up-and-take-my-money

Then, as if guided by the hands of fate herself, the books arrived in record time from the US and just in time for my day off. Not only that but we were informed our house may be ready by the end of next month, which means my writing room could be right around the corner!

As everything falls into place, I began reading the beginning of Writer’s Market 2017 which has a wonderful section about query letters. These are essentially the resume cover letter that we were taught about back in high school, but geared toward the writing industry and your product. It’s not just me I’m trying to sell anymore (yes, I see what I wrote there… close enough) but it’s the story too. Limiting yourself to a single page for all the important details is a fun challenge (read: the tears come at night) but I think I’ve managed.

The question is, what do you think?

<Insert El Editor’s Details Here>

Dear El Editor,

My 98,000 word novel, Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse, is fantasy fiction in the same vein as the Harry Potter series of novels but with a hint of influence from Star Wars as well.

Jefferson is a teen orphan whose feeling of being the outsider leads him to seek out the circus for its oddities and curiosities. Here, he discovers a performing magician, Gabriel, who introduces the boy to the wonders of real magic.

Finding his place in a secret society of magicians, Jefferson walks a dangerous line between the rise of forbidden arts and learning magic. As Gabriel becomes more erratic and dangerous, Jefferson finds he is the key to saving or defeating him.

From cursed magicians and multiple personality disorders to magical battles and time travel, Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse is familiar to fans of fantasy while taking a new approach to the question, “Where does magic come from?”

Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse would ideally fit in with Harry Potter or Dragonlance series of novels. Your website noted that you were seeking out fantasy novels over 75,000 words and this fits those criteria.

I have been writing and editing many of my shorter works for the below website and blog. My short story, Circle of Vengeance, was critiqued and edited more than twenty times before being self-published. You can find this on my website below as well as at lulu.com and on the iBooks store.

As stated in your guidelines I have enclosed the first 30 pages. Thank you for your time and consideration of my novel, Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse.

Sincerely,

TJ Edwards

<Insert My Details Here>

Let me know if there’s anything I could do better! I need all the help I can get!

Also… any tips out there for submitting manuscripts?

Thanks a bunch, as always you folks are legendary!

What Now?

There’s always been a part of me that believed I could actually write a novel. I mean, honestly, writing as often as I do I’d have to just get to an ending eventually. The writing process for me was completely haphazard and without a written plan.

Plot? Not exactly.

Characters? Some at the beginning… many along the way.

Setting? It is in a world… indeed.

It was so exciting though experiencing the world through my characters. Their voices carried the narrative and their actions dictated the direction. Could it be better? I’m sure it could. But as my first written novel, I’m damn proud of it! I told everyone who would listen about my story!

My coworkers! (Paid to listen, captive audience!)

My friends! (People who seem really enthusiastic for me!)

My family! (Must love me no matter what!)

Random guy selling me books! (Strangely, genuinely interested… great feeling!)

People on the internet! (In the same boat as me, well… and you out there reading this!)

Finally, I’d written something worthwhile and it was good. The best thing I’d ever written. All the toiling over a keyboard, finally living up to my hopes and dreams. I loaded up my trusty MacBook and stared at my Pages document. Something wasn’t right. Not with the story, but a feeling. If I were a Jedi… I’d imagine this is what a disturbance in the force feels like.

What now?

All the words, characters, settings, and events… what was I supposed to do with them now? I have this responsibility to introduce them to the world and have no idea where to start. Guides online are absolutely hopeless or written by someone self-publishing or trying to get published. You can submit to publishing houses but they slog through probably thousands of unsolicited manuscripts. Some typo sneak into page one of your book? Deleted.

It felt like getting a degree all over again.

You do all the hard yards, get the grades and then they give you the certificate. Congratulations! You’re done! Go out and conquer the world! Then you wake up the next day at noon and wonder why you don’t have a job yet. You finished it! But so did everyone else. Some of them were actually better than you too. So your chances of landing the gig are even less. Then sometimes, it’s just who you know.

That feeling, the disturbance in the force, that diploma, all at once sitting there and joining together in a chorus of mockery.

“Oh, oh wait. You thought that was the hard part?” They laugh. “You poor thing.”

The worst part is while I’ve been searching for all (or any) tips I can find about the step after writing and editing, all  writing website tips seem based around actually just writing.

“Just write.”

“Write it already.”

“You’ll never find the time, you have to make the time.”

“Set a schedule.”

“Find a support group.”

“Read a lot. Write a lot. Read some more. Write some more.”

Okay, okay. Now that I followed everyone’s advice… I look to their other articles, and all of them reiterate the same thing; Writing is the hardest part of writing. I made it though, so what now? It would be like getting to the light at the end of the tunnel and it just being a really bright room.

What the hell do we do now?

And I leave that question for you. If you’ve managed to get some decent advice or found a decent website on how to actually organise a manuscript, please point me in the direction! Thanks in advance!

Disappointment Eve

As I logged into my laptop on this fine January evening in Australia, my MacBook reminders begin popping up.

“Work – 9 AM – Tomorrow.”

“1 new mail message.”

“You have Facebook notifications.”

And then…

“HarperCollins Wednesday Press – Cut off.”

A part of me knew nothing would happen. But then, somewhere deep inside the darkest corners of my soul, a small light was glowing. This light, the light of optimism, had been beaten back and abused into submission as my pessimistic side took on a Hulk-like form. Still though, somewhere in there… that damn voice whispered, “You can do it!” “Maybe this will be the year?!” “Your manuscript is flawless, and I’m insane!”

Insane indeed.

As my brain tried desperately to grasp the concept and plans for solar panels for our future home, I had almost forgotten about… okay, I’m lying. I checked my email roughly every three hours from the moment I woke up, until the last thing I did before my dance with the sandman. But for the most part, I didn’t stress about it. In fact, on this lovely Disappointment Eve, I can say one thing.

I tried.

And I will try again.

Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not the next day.

But it is coming.

While I consider when to submit again, I will find a writer’s group (somehow) and I will go to the Writing Centre at the Uni (when they get back to me). I need more unbiased people to look at my story. I need people who aren’t afraid to hurt my feelings and tell me it is rubbish and I write like a sixth grader. I will absorb all of that, so long as they explain why and what makes it so. I want to learn, yearn to learn even.

With this trilogy plotted out with book one completed, a prequel in my notes and another trilogy set in the same universe years later with book one at fifty thousand or so words… I’m loving it! To think that this time next year I could possibly have my writing room set up and be completing at the very least book two for Jefferson or book one of Pandemonium is just insane!

For now, I will try to sleep as tomorrow is the official last day for HarperCollins to get back to me. Tomorrow will be a long day (especially being day one after two days off) and I am hoping there’s a lot going on to keep my mind off my emails. Although I do wonder what number they actually select from each bunch or if they select any at all?

Ah well, until tomorrow! Wish me luck! Get me some of that good karma!