Not that anyone's noticed (maybe someone will eventually read my blog and see this), but I've taken a healthy step away from the Dreaming project the past week and plan to continue the escape a bit longer. I've always found that a good break is worth its weight in gold when it comes to clearing my mind, emotions and even my body after weeks or months of hard work.
Just like a day job, I felt I needed a vacation from even thinking about the book, in the hopes that when I come back to it, I'll be recharged and ready to rock it and make a big push towards publishing.
In lieu of writing, I've buckled down on my sort-of pretend "job" lately and have enjoyed a relative re-vamping of success because of it, so its good to know I've still got it in my primary field of money making for the time being.
I've also come to what I believe is a healthy mindset concerning the potential success of the book. Not that I'm ready to sell myself short, but I have realized that I have so very much to look forward to other than the book in the next few years, and those things will be so much more enjoyable if and when the book gets the attention I believe it deserves.
It's a lot like when Ted rolls around to realizing how much he has to look forward to after his "breakdown" in the book... I had a really rough week last week, but I made it through, hit some sort of a bottom, and have climbed back out in one piece and stronger because of it. Although few of you reading this know what I've been going through in my personal life lately, lets just suffice it to say that this is a time of turmoil and immense change for me. Luckily, as it has in the past, I can see that these hurdles are for the best and are forcing me to take some risks in my life and chase my dreams in a way that I wouldn't have had life progressed "as planned".
Change is scary, confusing, potentially dangerous and just plain hard... but it's also necessary, invigorating, inspiring, and can be oh-so-fun if embraced properly, which is what I believe I'm finally doing. I tried to convince myself and those closest to me that I've been fine lately, but that wasn't the whole story. Truth was: I was surviving, but was not fine, which is ok. We've all got times like these, but it's how we allow ourselves to feel the hurt, learn something from it, and then eventually, climb back up, out and beyond hard times is what separates dreamers from doers. That's a good lesson from my book: although Ted is a dreamer, what makes him successful now and will continue to do so in his fictional future is his ability to dream it and then do it... he's willing to chase his dreams and do what it takes to turn fantasy into reality, which is something I must do now in my life, especially if I'm going to make this book a success.
I'll leave it at that, mostly because chances are good that you have no idea what I'm talking about and I apologize for that... but I just needed to vent a little and put this reminder out there so I can look back on it and smile years from now.
Until next time...
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Queries = plastic lightning rod, open field, cloudy day
I just sent out a batch of queries through a website I just discovered, WEbook.com.
The first batch of queries I sent in late January have been a so-so experience thus far. I've received responses from a little over half of them. All but two were canned responses citing that they're too busy, not interested and other sorts of reasons why they did not want to represent me. One asked for a small sample and then quickly sent a "not interested" soon after, while the other just recently asked me for 40 pages, a synopsis and my bio... still waiting to see if I'm going to send it and how that turns out.
But back to the other ~10 auto-response rejections. I acknowledge that such rejections are in no way personal. After all, they don't know me or my book. Assuming they read what I sent, they only had a brief one-page query by which to judge my entire novel. It makes me curious as to what a query of Harry Potter or another massively successful book looked like and what it took to be given the chance to share the entire manuscript. I honestly believe all it will take is one agent or one publisher reading the entire thing to see what I and the people who have read it so far see... but getting just one is much harder than it sounds.
My research thus far has shown me that the agent/query process is somewhat like being told to make your own lightning rod out of only plastic materials and then running through an open field on a cloudy day and hoping for a miracle. A query doesn't even give you the means through which to adequately represent an entire novel, but I understand the reason why agents require such a flawed representative by which to judge a project... it's a necessary evil.
My research has also shown me that being rejected by numerous agents is about as predictive of literary success as your favorite flavor of ice cream (i.e. there's no correlation). Stephanie Meyer was kind enough to share her query and rejection story on her website... and after numerous rejections, she was one of the lucky few to have lightning strike through an absurdly lucky series of events. That lightning strike may have been the only thing that turned Twilight from a personal project into a multi-million dollar literary, film and pop culture empire.
Similar story for Madeleine L'Engle, author of the Wrinkle in Time series... many dead ends and one final lucky stroke of good luck was the only thing that made the difference between obscurity and becoming required reading for young school children.
So, in sum, I've patched together another plastic rod and begun to run through yet another open field on a cloudy day. I'm not entirely sure I want or need one of these agents to respond positively... what if my book's best chance of success is the self-publishing/self-marketing route? I know I have it in me to make it a success, but I'm not sure if the world around me will fall into place in just the right way and time to allow that success... there's always a bit of luck and timing in every success story. As a former athlete, I know that all too well. I was NCAA runner-up twice in my career... what if the guy who beat me both times was sick? What if I was sick and had finished 9th? Life is chock full of "what if", but that didn't stop me from trying then, nor will it stop me now.
As Ted, my protagonist, would say in this situation, "No guts, no glory!"
The first batch of queries I sent in late January have been a so-so experience thus far. I've received responses from a little over half of them. All but two were canned responses citing that they're too busy, not interested and other sorts of reasons why they did not want to represent me. One asked for a small sample and then quickly sent a "not interested" soon after, while the other just recently asked me for 40 pages, a synopsis and my bio... still waiting to see if I'm going to send it and how that turns out.
But back to the other ~10 auto-response rejections. I acknowledge that such rejections are in no way personal. After all, they don't know me or my book. Assuming they read what I sent, they only had a brief one-page query by which to judge my entire novel. It makes me curious as to what a query of Harry Potter or another massively successful book looked like and what it took to be given the chance to share the entire manuscript. I honestly believe all it will take is one agent or one publisher reading the entire thing to see what I and the people who have read it so far see... but getting just one is much harder than it sounds.
My research thus far has shown me that the agent/query process is somewhat like being told to make your own lightning rod out of only plastic materials and then running through an open field on a cloudy day and hoping for a miracle. A query doesn't even give you the means through which to adequately represent an entire novel, but I understand the reason why agents require such a flawed representative by which to judge a project... it's a necessary evil.
My research has also shown me that being rejected by numerous agents is about as predictive of literary success as your favorite flavor of ice cream (i.e. there's no correlation). Stephanie Meyer was kind enough to share her query and rejection story on her website... and after numerous rejections, she was one of the lucky few to have lightning strike through an absurdly lucky series of events. That lightning strike may have been the only thing that turned Twilight from a personal project into a multi-million dollar literary, film and pop culture empire.
Similar story for Madeleine L'Engle, author of the Wrinkle in Time series... many dead ends and one final lucky stroke of good luck was the only thing that made the difference between obscurity and becoming required reading for young school children.
So, in sum, I've patched together another plastic rod and begun to run through yet another open field on a cloudy day. I'm not entirely sure I want or need one of these agents to respond positively... what if my book's best chance of success is the self-publishing/self-marketing route? I know I have it in me to make it a success, but I'm not sure if the world around me will fall into place in just the right way and time to allow that success... there's always a bit of luck and timing in every success story. As a former athlete, I know that all too well. I was NCAA runner-up twice in my career... what if the guy who beat me both times was sick? What if I was sick and had finished 9th? Life is chock full of "what if", but that didn't stop me from trying then, nor will it stop me now.
As Ted, my protagonist, would say in this situation, "No guts, no glory!"
Sunday, March 14, 2010
In the beginning...
Today is roughly 6 months after I began writing my first novel, Dreaming, and it's high time I started a periodic installment of thoughts, questions, musings and so forth regarding my Dreaming journey.
In hindsight, I wish I had started this blog back then. I had many interesting and amusing adventures and thoughts along the way that were worth sharing and my life is so very different now than it was then... but better late than never. I suppose the book itself reflects my last 6 months in its own special way, so perhaps it can serve as a proper stand-in.
Now, 6 months later, the book is written, the cover is designed, and I'm ready to balance my post-writing options, namely to self-publish or to wait and try my luck with agents and traditional publishers.
I couldn't be happier with the project itself. The book is everything I dreamed of and more (pardon the pun) when I began writing many months ago. Now I just need to find the best way to get it out in the world and share it with others. I know deep down that it's capable of becoming popular, perhaps even massively popular, but it's going to take a lot of work and even more luck to get it in front of the eyes of the many people I believe will enjoy it as much as I do.
And so it begins... my adventure in publishing and marketing. I'm an author, but can I become a published author? What about a successful author? Only time will tell.
One final thought for this inaugural post: Last night I stumbled upon some old files in my computer and discovered a poem I had written over 6 years ago. I wrote this poem randomly and without apparent cause in January of 2004. It just happened and I put it down in a Word document for whatever reason, then forgot it existed until last night. Having now completed the book, I read this poem and find myself stunned, confused and amazed at the bizarre foreshadows it contains. Even the title is strangely interesting, given that I honestly had forgotten this poem existed for a full 6 years before the idea for the book came to me.
I'll share the poem below and, in time and once you have read Dreaming, you too can share in my amazement and confusion as to how and why this poem came out as it did way back when...
“Dreaming of You” SCP 1/27/04
Dreaming away, dreaming of you,
The darkness it falls, the night is anew.
You beckon to me, to walk through the door,
Colors surround you, I've not seen before.
Surroundings are strange, afraid I would be,
If you were not there, walking beside me.
You held me so close, your heartbeat I felt,
Whenever you touch me, I can't help but melt.
Although in a dream, you're real as can be,
My wish when awoken, is...
“Sigh”
In hindsight, I wish I had started this blog back then. I had many interesting and amusing adventures and thoughts along the way that were worth sharing and my life is so very different now than it was then... but better late than never. I suppose the book itself reflects my last 6 months in its own special way, so perhaps it can serve as a proper stand-in.
Now, 6 months later, the book is written, the cover is designed, and I'm ready to balance my post-writing options, namely to self-publish or to wait and try my luck with agents and traditional publishers.
I couldn't be happier with the project itself. The book is everything I dreamed of and more (pardon the pun) when I began writing many months ago. Now I just need to find the best way to get it out in the world and share it with others. I know deep down that it's capable of becoming popular, perhaps even massively popular, but it's going to take a lot of work and even more luck to get it in front of the eyes of the many people I believe will enjoy it as much as I do.
And so it begins... my adventure in publishing and marketing. I'm an author, but can I become a published author? What about a successful author? Only time will tell.
One final thought for this inaugural post: Last night I stumbled upon some old files in my computer and discovered a poem I had written over 6 years ago. I wrote this poem randomly and without apparent cause in January of 2004. It just happened and I put it down in a Word document for whatever reason, then forgot it existed until last night. Having now completed the book, I read this poem and find myself stunned, confused and amazed at the bizarre foreshadows it contains. Even the title is strangely interesting, given that I honestly had forgotten this poem existed for a full 6 years before the idea for the book came to me.
I'll share the poem below and, in time and once you have read Dreaming, you too can share in my amazement and confusion as to how and why this poem came out as it did way back when...
“Dreaming of You” SCP 1/27/04
Dreaming away, dreaming of you,
The darkness it falls, the night is anew.
You beckon to me, to walk through the door,
Colors surround you, I've not seen before.
Surroundings are strange, afraid I would be,
If you were not there, walking beside me.
You held me so close, your heartbeat I felt,
Whenever you touch me, I can't help but melt.
Although in a dream, you're real as can be,
My wish when awoken, is...
“Sigh”
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