NaNo

I found out about something pretty cool a few days ago. November is "National Novel Writing Month."
In honor of this, many authors participate in writing an entire novel during the month of November. I haven't researched the details fully yet (been too busy writing myself), but I loved the concept.

So now, I'm trying to decide if I should participate as well. I figured I'd leave it up to my Guardians since I'm forced to do whatever they want anyway. I am currently writing the 3rd book in their series, and I'm 1/4 of the way done with it. I seriously doubt I'll finish the book in less than 2 weeks (#1: that would be insane, #2: editing takes FOREVER). But, that doesn't mean I could start on the 4th if the Guardians so will it.

Something I found interesting about this NaNo thing is that some of my fellow authors (who have participated before) explained how much better stuff they wrote when they were under this kind of pressure. A huge part of me is seriously curious about how I would do under this kind of pressure, and wonder if it is anything like the pressure you are under when under contract for books.

It might be good practice.

To find out about NaNo, go here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Incredible Conference

Three of the chics (Jayne, Hannah, and I) attended the Utah RWA Heart of the West Conference in gorgeous Park City, UT this weekend. We met a bunch of wonderful authors (both men and women) and I'm excited to have made some new friends. We also learned a lot, and I, for one can't wait to use my new-found knowledge to work! I'll be re-writing my query letter, analyzing my books, and sending out more queries to agents, editors, and publishers so that my dreams of being published can come through.

If you've never been to an RWA Conference, I would seriously suggest attending one. Many of them allow you to attend even if you're not a member (you'd likely just pay a higher fee). So if you're a writer (un-published or published), or even if you're just thinking about it, you should definately go to one. The wealth of knowledge provided in the classes is incredible!

The dreaded query letter...

Once more, I am attempting to entice some unwitting agent with my work and convince them how much better their lives will be with me in at as their client. And, once again, I am met with rejections. However, this round of submissions, I sent out eight queries and debated whether I should continue sending or wait for a response to see if it was well received. I actually received three personalized rejections, which is one step up from a form letter. The critique I received was that, although I'm a skilled writer, they didn't connect with the voice. Which is encouraging, but not.

My interpretation of these rejections is that my sample pages were decent, my writing craft honed. What I lack is the voice that reaches out to these readers immediately. So I resorted to researching on my most trusted writing site, Kidlit.com, and found myself on the exact same wavelength as the agent who posts on that site. She spoke of the most effective way of sending submissions. Rather than send a slew of the same, although personalized, queries to fifty agents, send it to 6-8 agents and see how it was received. If there are only rejections, the query letter isn't up to par or the sample pages still need some revising and developing.

Based on her summary, I've determined that I need to polish my query letter and get it focused and powerful. It wouldn't hurt for me to review my sample pages either. To get more voice in there, I believe I need to insert more information, rather than just action, which was also a post found on Kidlit.com. So, even though I've finished another serious revision of my book, the work of revising is not yet over. Then, another round of queries and we'll see how those are received. Eventually I'll get it right.