Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Tehachapi, CA
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Last time I blogged, I talked about query letter dos and don’ts. Mostly the don’ts. I want to follow that up with the next step–what to do once you’ve got that book done, the queries and proposals circulating, and you are in that interminable wait. I’ve been planning the posts for a couple of weeks, but just this morning, as I sat in Lauraine Snelling’s living room, one of our writing friends read a journal entry that succinctly captured the uncertainty and vulnerability of that waiting time. Susan Lawson, who’s in the process of looking for an agent, gave me permission to share this with you:
I send off the query letter that I have wrestled to the ground in order to make it witty. I want the agent who reads it to be captivated by the letter and to pant to see my book. I know agents are mega busy, so after I send it off, what do I do while I’m waiting? If this agent passes and the next and all the other “nexts,” what do I do? I have an idea for my second book in the series, so do I start on that, even though no one wants the first? My feelings of “not good enough,” which apply not only to the book, but to me, will increase exponentially. I expect to be the receiver of understanding nods which mean, “You’re a wannabe. This is a dilettante thing.”
All the people I have interviewed to get background for my book will have wasted their time. Will I become the not-so-literary Mrs. Winchester, the woman in San Jose who believed she would never die as long as she kept adding extra rooms to her house? How ridiculous can you be, I thought after I climbed the stairs in her open-to-the–public mansion only to find they led nowhere. Is that the direction I’m heading? Am I pounding my head on a door that exposes only empty space? Will it feel good when I stop?
Most of us can identify with Susan. The longer the wait, the more time we have for self-doubt and second-guessing. That’s counter-productive. If you are serious about becoming a career writer, now is the time to be proactive. Once your book is contracted and you are on your way, you will find yourself carried along on a whirlwind. You’ll be writing the third book, doing edits for the second book, looking at the page proofs for the first book and planning a marketing push for your debut. Never again will you have this gift of time. You need to proceed with confidence and use this waiting period to set up your infrastructure, build inventory, connect with colleagues, perfect your craft and pre-market yourself. We are going to address all of those things this week.
But let’s put first things first. Use this time to continue to perfect your craft. Read every writing book you can get your hands on. Take classes and attend workshops. If you get feedback from your queries and proposals, go to work making any valid changes. Learn, learn, learn. Once you are contracted you are going to have to fight for the time to experiment and grow as a writer.
And read! Read everything important in your genre. Read the bestsellers so you know what’s happening in the industry. Nothing will help you perfect your craft more than reading. If you are reading good books, you gain techniques almost by osmosis. Good writing will become instinctual.
If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to move forward with confidence. Plan for success and use the gift of time. Henry David Thoreau said it better: “If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
May your wait be measured in uncommon hours.
This post is extremely timely for me right now. Thanks, Susan, for so eloquently sharing your/our fears. I can relate, though not so poetically.
Thanks, Wendy, for your answer. I shall accept my gift of time and try to invest it wisely.
~cat
Great advice. I positively love books on the craft of writing. They motivate me with ideas to improve my writing, so there’s no struggle there. But shutting out those voices of doubt…how on earth can we do that? Being a Genesis finalist doesn’t take them away. I think it just increased their volume.
Well, they do fade a bit when I open another craft book.
Encouraging post! In light of Janet’s tweet about the need for a good-looking website, I’ll be very interested to read what you have to say about how a not-yet-published writer can pre-market themselves.
Also, after polishing a first manuscript one editor advised me to thoroughly outline the others in that series but then to write something NOT in the series in order to have two distinct titles to offer. That sounded like very wise counsel. Do you concur?
Lynn, that is wise advice. (You’ll see something similar when you read tomorrow’s blog.)
I need to hang a sign on this post that says I AM HERE.
Great advice.
Time truly is a gift.
~ Wendy
Great post, Wendy, and timely quote by Thoreau for me to ponder this day. I’ve shared it with coaching clients but today I need to share it with the woman in the mirror 🙂 Thanks.
Thanks, Wendy. Your post is an affirmation. I’m within days of my final deadline to my editor, then the wait begins.
I’ve ordered several novels my friends have published with the idea that I’ll get to those reviews I promised. Then I’m reading Descriptions and Setting by Ron Rozelle, then Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell. And then I’m finishing up Writing the Breakout Novel exercises by Don Maass. He was kind enough to allow me to blog about my hand at his exercises.
So… in between all that and painting and gardening, I should be plenty busy, huh? No self-defeating thoughts out of this nuggon! Hey?
Seriously, I haven’t met a writer yet who doesn’t live with these problems. We’re a wonderful and strange breed. Just the other day a lady said, “Who’s got time to read!”
Wendy, thanks for this week’s series which is timely for me. Within the next several weeks, I’m going to finish my book and start querying agents. While I’m waiting for responses, I am going to work hard to build traffic to my blog (where I have been writing my book). I have several strategies in mind, and since school will be out, I’ll time to put those strategies into action.
Exactly how I’m feeling.
Thanks Wendy, for the practical reminder during an emotional time.
I love this way of looking at waiting–and it’s so true! Thank you!
A very lovely post. Thanks, Wendy.
I think as writers it is a crucial exercise (and I use that word because it often feels as grueling as any speeding treadmill) to learn ways to sustain our optimism on our own.
Throughout the whole of one’s writing career, writing will always be at its core a solitary endeavor, and there will always be lulls in our work–whether it’s when we’re starting a new WIP, or waiting on a partial review, or waiting for final edits from our editor–times when we feel utterly unsure of the worth of our work while we wait for that vital feedback.
Having said all this, I don’t know that I have any solutions to the challenge, though. Perhaps I consider it an exercise too because it is a constant battle, to keep the confidence level high even when the buzzing deer flies of self-doubt start to circle our heads…
Good post! It seems many of us are wrestling with the issue of time and how we use it. Today my Bible study group started “Priorities; Tyranny of the Urgent” by Charles Hummel. Time is such a treasure. Thanks.
Etta
I think the best advice anyone gave me was: obviously from years ago, “Ignore the mailbox and the telephone and keep on writing. Get the queries out there, research new markets, and keep on writing.” I found that difficult without a deadline but when I did it, I was ready when the editor did call or write. And if it was a “no”, I gave myself 24 hours to whine and cry and then sent it out with needed revisions on cover letter or query and put it back in the mail. Wendy and Janet are so right. The whirlwind begins after the contract.
blessings,
Lauraine
In addition to all the proactive steps we can take to define our writing, I find using the time for deeper reflection and prayer to be invaluable. I bring confidence to my craft and project a stronger self-image when I feel at peace, as opposed to anxious or frustrated.
Waiting on my writing is a wonderful test of faith, and I mean WONDERFUL. It is a time to believe in myself, my work, and my dreams, and a time to surrender to God’s plan with absolute trust that I’m moving in the right direction, at the right speed.