Writer's Life: A Look Back at 2016

Oh man! It’s driving me crazy that I missed posting last Wednesday, December 28th. Christmas and guests and running around doing this and that really cut into my writing time. Sorry dear reader!

Kristen Lamb, a writing blogger I follow, says she has four posts ready to go at all times. If I work hard, maybe I can do that and avoid missing a Wednesday post. I plan to spend my afternoon in front of this computer and try to do just that!

Today is the second-to-last day of 2016. At the end of each year, I take stock. I look at my accomplishments, as well as the happy/good and sad/bad personal events of the year. I always set goals for the upcoming year

Courtesy of Google Images

So, to get a picture of the writing life accomplishments of moi, I will share some of what’s been going on- as unspectacular as it is.

To date, I’ve sent query letters for THE INK OF TIME to six different agents. A query letter is an introduction. It gives potential agents a sense of what the book is about and includes a short author bio. Query letters need to be well written (no errors) and succinct. The letter’s job is to hook the agent, to get him/her to take a minute to think about the project.

I’m proud of the fact that I’ve gotten feed-back from three of the six agents. I think a 50% take-a-minute-look are pretty good odds. I believe it means I’m on to something with this ol’ story. Of course none of them want/need my project, but hey, it’s a start. In fact, the last agent I queried was on November 29th, so technically it’s not an ‘I'll pass on this’ until I haven’t heard anything from her agency within three months. (Yes, it is a very long process!)

While you may wonder, “Nadine, why only six?” the answer is this. I will not send out a mass mailing. I’ve read enough information to know that doing so would be a waste of my time. Agents want writers (authors!) who have researched and “know” them. So I comb through the internet looking for interviews, blog posts, and whatever else I can find to use in my query letter about that specific agent.

I went to a program where Gary W. Moore, author of Playing with the Enemy spoke of his journey to get published. He sent seventy-two (!) query letters before he got a bite. I think he’s published two more books since then. He’s just a regular guy, living in the Chicago suburbs. If he can do it, so can I!

This year, I’ve learned how to write a synopsis of my novel. The purpose of a synopsis is to tell the WHOLE story in short. It’s not easy to do. I had to decide what information must be included so that it was interesting and had a complete story line. I took my 51,000 word manuscript and created a less than 1,000 word synopsis. GAA!

Last March was the first time I felt ready to send out my story. I found out that every manuscript has to be formatted in the exact same way. There’s actually a formula to follow and luckily, I found a tutorial video on YouTube that I used to format my manuscript. Because agencies are inundated daily by writers wanting representation, something as benign as formatting “irregularities” can get a story thrown in the rejection pile.

In October, I joined a Quad Cities based writing group. That was a very scary move for me. I’m still kind of feeling my way. They’re all very positive, supportive people, but I’m just not totally comfortable yet.

Courtesy of Google Images.

That’s about it for now. I’m going to keep on keeping on.

Happy New Year!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine

Writing a Synopsis

This past week I queried (that means send a “PICK ME! PICK ME! letter) to another agent. I don’t like to send out mass mailings. From what I’ve read, it’s a waste of my time. Instead, it’s more important to do research for an agent that specialized in what I’ve written. It’s also important to kind of “know” the person. 

So, after I find an agent that might be interested in my work, I surf the internet for any snippet of information about that agent. Oftentimes I can find interviews that I will use to make mention of in my query letter. I check out their web sites, Facebook and Twitter pages too. (It takes a good bit of time to get all the information I need and the courage up to send all my stuff out once again.)

Typically an agent wants a letter that tells (sells) about the book, the genre, and word count. They also want to know what I’ve published (yikes!) in the past. I just skip that part and talk about my education instead, hoping that they’ll think I know what I’m doing. (HAH!)

Courtesy of Google Images

Anyway, the agent I queried this time wanted a synopsis of my story, THE INK OF TIME, along with the good ‘ol query letter.  A synopsis is like a summary. It tells the main things that happen and how the story ends.  That’s the most important part—how the story ends.  An interested agent wants to know what’s what in the book without having to read the whole novel before deciding Yea or Nay.

Writing a synopsis is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I mean, I know this story inside and out. Frontwards and backwards. I was required to make the synopsis one to two pages long.  I ended up with two pages. (I have no idea how I would cut it down to one, but some day, I may have to figure that out too.)

My synopsis of THE INK OF TIME

My lovely beta readers – Erin and Bekka -and this time TIM also beta read for me- helped immensely. I put that novel on the Jenny Craig/Weight Watchers/ Beachbody diet. I took my fifty-one thousand plus word document and shred over fifty-thousand words. Yep. Yep. My synopsis is a slim, no skinny, nine-hundred ninety-six words. Less than one thousand words.

I haven’t heard anything back yet. Typically it takes a few weeks to get a reply- if any. I debated about the wisdom of putting myself out there before the holidays, or if waiting until January would be better. I thought I might get lost in the hustle/bustle, but I went for it any way. 

Strike while the iron’s hot, as they say.

Courtesy of Google Images

I’ll let you know how it goes…

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine