STATS

Well, it killed my soul a little to do it, but I wouldn’t be the Creepy Query Girl without some Querying Stats to offer. So this morning I went rummaging through my email to try and compile some numbers. As some of you might remember, both of these manuscripts saw major R&R’s with an agent who left the industry. 

So the stats here are from after those rewrites.

Kissing for Coffee was my first attempt at an agent rewrite and even though it took me awhile to get over not getting signed after all that work, I still queried it pretty regularly for awhile and it garnered a bit of interest. The full manuscript is still currently out with two agents.

KISSING FOR COFFEE

Queries sent: 46

Replies: 21

Rejections: 16

Requests for material:  5

Pending replies: 2

I only started re-querying Fossegrim in September and haven’t queried it very widely, although I really should since it saw substantial agent revisions in the spring. I’m currently waiting on a reply from an agent who requested the partial.

FOSSEGRIM

Queries sent: 10

Replies: 6

Rejections: 5

Requests for material: 1

Pending replies: 1

Even though I haven’t abandoned the dream of traditional publishing, I admit that my motivation to query agents has waned. It’s frustrating, time consuming, and the return rate is so extremely slow, I can’t help dragging my feet when it comes to looking for, and querying new prospects. Plus, I admit that now a’days, self-publishing seems to be a more viable career move for debut authors than attempting the agent route. At least, when you read articles like this:) So that also chips away at what is left of my motivation. I’m sure, however, my tune will probably change once I have a new story ready to put out there:)

How about you? Are any of you out there still querying? Do you find yourself querying less and less as time goes by?  

(Don't) Surprise Me!

I have nothing against surprises. As long as they’re good surprises. That said, I really don’t like surprises when it comes to my preferred forms of entertainment. If my husband says “Want to watch this movie with me?” I automatically reply “What’s it about?”. To which he most often says “I don’t know.”

*cringe*. 

I can’t. I can not just sit down and watch a movie, not knowing how it’s going to make me feel. So, much to his dismay, my husband has to wait the five minutes it takes for me to Google the title and watch the movie trailer on YouTube before I can give him a definite ‘yes’ or ‘no’. 

And yes, it drives him crazy.

But what he doesn’t understand is that my poor psyche just doesn’t let go of books and movies as easily as his does. After watching The Sixth Sense, I saw dead people for weeks. And I pondered alternate endings for Revolutionary Road every night before bed for the longest time, because the real ending totally depressed the hell out of me.

So I have to know. How will the movie make me feel and do I really feel like feeling that way right now? :) The same thing when it comes to books. I always, always read the back cover, and if it’s an internet order, I’ll also read a few reviews before plopping it in my basket. And when, despite all of that, a book still manages to surprise me in a bad way, well, let's just say if I were 'Joey' from Friends, it would end up in my freezer.

This summer my husband brought home a copy of Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. I read the back cover, and it seemed harmless enough. So I took it with us on our camping trip and quickly read through the pages of Mamah Cheney’s love affair with a married Frank Wright.  

Until the ending when, out of nowhere, *spoiler alert for people who are like me and don't know their history.*, she and her kids get axed and burned, literally, by one of the servants.

Hold on. Wait, WHAT?! I frantically Wikipedia-ed the true-life story of Mamah Cheney and literally threw the book on the floor like it was alive and biting. Son of a ….! This wasn’t on the BACK!!! *hyperventilates*

Damn book nearly ruined my vacation.

How about you? Do you guys pick stories that fit your mood or just go with the flow? Do you find it easy to let go once the book/movie is over or does the bad/depressing/scary stuff haunt you for awhile?

Rusty

I guess you could say the last six months, I never really stopped writing.

Because, technically, there were a couple carefully crafted emails that must have totaled 300 words. And some lengthy facebook exchanges with family and friends. And let's not forget the frequent standard status updates. Oh! And I wrote out quite a few checks without my hand actually cramping. So yeah. Totally kept those writing muscles loosened up. 

*ahem*

But when it comes to my works-in-progresses, frankly, there hasn’t been much work, or progress up until now. Over my hiatus I tinkered with one project in particular, but got hung up on details that stunted my mojo.

I always admire writers who have a set ‘schedule’ and write a certain number of words every day, rain or shine. I think, if I’d had different luck with my last two projects, I might have found the motivation to be more disciplined and push my muse awake instead of waiting for her pretty eyelids to flutter open on their own. As things are now, I’ve really had to take motivation where I could find it and ride it for as long and as far possible. Which, these last few months, hasn’t been very far.

This weekend, I took out the four different manuscripts I’ve begun over the last year and a half. Two of them barely made it past the outline and first three chapters. The other two puttered out somewhere around 30k. My goal is to finish at least one of these manuscripts before summer vacation. And to do so, I’m going to try and take a page from the disciplined-writer handbook and make myself write. every. day. At least a page, if I’m really not feelng it. -But hopefully a half-scene or more on a daily basis. And this time, regretfully, bills and facebook statuses will not be included in the word count:)

What is your writing schedule like? Sporatic or disciplined? Where do you find your motivation and how to you keep going when you’re totally not motivated?

2013 in Review

While looking back on 2013, one word jumps immediately to mind : tired. I can’t say my resolutions went unmet since, to my knowledge, I didn’t even bother making any this year.

Ever since signing on with the S.A.H.M. Corps (stay at home mom corporation) in April of 2012 and the addition of our fourth project (i.e. baby Phoebe) in February 2013, ‘the job’ has been keeping me more than occupied. It isn’t the hardest job in the world as good ol’ Oprah used to say. But it’s about as hard as most other full-time jobs, I imagine.

The co-owner of this enterprise has a paid occupation on the side (thank goodness), so most of the heavy lifting falls to yours truly. The salary isn’t great, but the benefits are worth the long hours and sleepless nights. My employees are often lazy, cranky, and always looking for a hand-out. But they’re also fun to be around and do their best to make this operation productive.

Our youngest recruit, 10-month-old Phoebe, is especially impressive in her determination to maintain a sedentary lifestyle. No crawling, shuffling or walking as of yet. In fact, she mostly just sits there and grunts like a small, pink, jabba the hutt while her sisters bring her toys and drinks and cater to her every whim. 

I think she might be the smartest one of us all.

So, after almost a full year of crawling through the post-partum fog and keeping my long-running family operation afloat, I finally feel ready to take a tentative step toward my goal of writing the-game-changer book and getting published.

Catching up is going to take awhile. I don’t think I’ve read a single book on the 2013 YA bestseller list. I've missed a lot of writer's world news in the who-got-agented/book deals/pubished/self published this year. And it would seem the tides of self-publishing have turned once again and debut S.P. authors aren’t seeing the success they once did due to market saturation. Pair this with the increasingly slow pace of the publishing industry, and agent/editor return and I have to wonder- 

Ya. What the hell are we supposed to do now?:)

Awkward Reunion

Me : Oh, hey !

Blog: *blinks groggily* Who the hell are you?

Me: It’s me! You know…the one who started this blog.

Blog: Oh. Yeah. You. *swats away fly*

Me: You don’t look so good.

Blog: Yeah, well, that’s what happens when someone’s been abandoned for four months.

Me: I never noticed how blindingly hypnotizing your background was before. It’s giving me a headache and toothache simultaneously.

Blog: Imagine living here…

Me: Okay, well, I know it’s been awhile…

Blog: Four. Months. FOUR MONTHS! You didn’t even say goodbye!

Me: I know, I’m sorry! But I didn’t know I was leaving. It was one of those sporadic spiritual leave-of-absences that people just up and take sometimes when a higher power calls. You know, like Jesus in the dessert. Or Forrest Gump. Or that crazy guy that just up and decided to walk across Australia one day.

Blog: I see. So tell me, Forrest, what did you accomplish during this impromptu journey? Any writing to speak of? Did you discover the truths to the universe? Get nominated for a nobel prize? Orchestrate the next technological revolution?

Me: Uh...*wrings hands*. Well, I did a little writing, yes. And I managed to keep my kids alive and the house from burning down. So there’s that. And, uh…there was some binge watching Gilmore Girls somewhere in there- all seven seasons!

Blog: *arms folded* Color me impressed.

Me: Look, I’m really sorry. But I’m here now and I’d like to make it up to you. You look a little tired and washed out. Let me give you a make-over. Unbraid that pink and beige armpit hair of yours and give your place some fresh air. Maybe even start cleaning out and organizing your content?  And I’ll try to start posting regularly again. What do you say?

Blog: *sniffs* Well, I guess I really could use a bath. And it has been a little lonely around here. *frowns skeptically* Okay. You gotta deal. But you take off on me again and I just might have get jacked up on viruses and kill your computer. 

Me: Note taken.

Sometimes I feel like I went to sleep one day in September, and when I woke up, we were already January 1^st! It’s 2014? Wait, what?! I wish I hadn't neeeded to take so much time away from you all and this blog in order to ‘find myself’ but, it turned out to be a necessary thing. It’s a new year, so if ever there was a time to stand up, brush myself off and start over, it’s now.

So, tell me- who’s still out there fighting the good fight? I’ve missed you all!

Back in the Saddle

Yesterday, I sent out a query letter for the first time in almost a year. Between the baby, and the revision for the agent and awaiting the feedback-that-would-never-come, I just didn’t have the motivation to re-enter the query trenches before now.

A part of me still doesn’t.

But, I’ve been wading in my pity pool long enough. Truth is, I worked damn hard on that manuscript and it deserves another go-around, no matter how draining and life-sucking querying can be. So yesterday I re-twerked (can we still use the word this way or does it officially mean ‘to shake one’s buttocks in the air?’) my old query and began the process of re-composing an agent list. And even though I’m not looking forward to the ups and downs, I have to admit, sending out that first query was like re-lighting an old fire.

On a personal note- the baby weight is finally off. Thanks, in part, to the fact that Phoebe is nearing the 20 lb mark at six months old. #worriedmybabyisagiant. 

And it took a while but I’m finally over the disappointment of what-could-have-been if we’d gone through with the move to Brittany. Life is settling back down into its usual routine and this weekend I found myself scanning old manuscripts and partials, looking for inspiration even though I didn’t think I’d find it.

But one of the stories I’d begun before giving birth snagged my attention. I read through the first three chapters, twerking things here and there (yes, I’m determined to use this word the way God intended). And before I knew it, I was adding to it, just a little bit. No more than 250 words or so. But that’s more than I’ve written in a very long time, so it felt good.

Now, this isn’t a story I think I can get published. It’s too been-there-done-that- the kind of urban fantasy the market is completely saturated with at the moment.

But it’s just where I want to be, right now. (does that make sense?) And it has me writing. So I figure, why not?

Have you ever had a project just for you? Something you’ve never shown someone and isn’t intended for publication of any kind?

Gotta Keep On Movin'

So, the move is off.

My husband changed his mind. Did a complete °180. I’m officially past the point of wanting to strangle him in his sleep, but it’s been a rough couple of weeks, to say the least. Isn’t marriage fun?:)

Anyway, on the bright side (as small and sliver-like as it feels right now)- Now that I don’t have a major move to focus on, and the girls are all back in school I’ve finally got this rare and priceless little thing we call downtime.

Now, if I were a liar, I’d say I can’t wait to get writing.

But the truth is, just the thought of writing and querying again reminds me of what a big fat failure I’ve been up until now.

No. In order to coax my muse out of her cave of misery and get out of my own sad-sack skin for a while, I think the smartest thing to do right now would be to read.

The problem is, being connected to the writing and publishing community can sometimes have its drawbacks.  Like, at the moment, I feel completely inundated when it comes to choosing which books to buy and read. There are just TOO MANY out there. Everywhere I look. Facebook newsfeed, flashing in my sidebars, all over the twitter feed, and don’t even get me started on trying to research books on Amazon or Goodreads. - It’s like those five-minute commercial breaks on t.v. where all they show is food from different restaurants. Sometimes, everything looks good. And other times nothing does. Getting hit with the perfect image at the perfect time and actually going to that restaurant for a fried bean burrito only happens occasionally.

Buying a book is kind of like ordering out at a restaurant for me. Except worse. Because I can’t just go to Amazon and say ‘I’d like something fantastic, addictive and uplifting. You know, the book equivalent of popcorn-covered chocolate cream puffs. Hit me.’

*sigh*

How do you guys go about choosing which books to read? And any recommendations for me? This girl needs an escape big time.