January 19, 2010

Progress, Query Letters

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Not long after I finished my last post, I decided to check my gmail account one more time. I certainly wasn’t expecting what awaited me there …

… a reply from one of the agents I queried this morning!

They want to see the first 30 pages of “Operation Snag Mike/Brad.”

I was floored β€” and thrilled at the same time. Once my heart stopped racing (and I texted the Boyfriend with the good news), I followed the instructions to upload the pages to the literary agency’s database.

Now, I get to wait. They said it could take up to two months to review the submission. That’s about the same amount of time until Golden Heart finalists are announced.

Good thing I have other stories to keep me busy in the meantime.

January 19, 2010

Query Letters

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Checking in again: I didn’t spent quite an hour treating writing as my day job today (Monday), but I did accomplish what I set out to do.

That’s right β€” I sent out two query letters. Yep. You read that correctly. Two agents now have my query for “Operation Snag Mike Brad” sitting in their e-mail inboxes. I hope one of them likes the idea enough to request the full manuscript.

With the snow falling, we cleared the paper early tonight, so I’m about to head home. Maybe I’ll get some writing done.

Wait a minute β€” that’s not the right attitude. I WILL get some writing done. That’s better! πŸ˜€

January 18, 2010

Uncategorized

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I’d call Day 1 of “Operation Treat Writing Like a Day Job” an unqualified success.

I spent about 2 1/2 hours finishing the read-through on my rough draft of “Blind Date Bride” and revised my query for “Operation Snag Mike Brad.”

So even though I didn’t get many actual words written, I did accomplish quite a bit. Lucky me, I’m done with work early … so it’s time to head home for more computer time. I may actually even write a few words so I can say I have a word count for the day.

I think I’ll try to write a couple of pages on Meg & Matt’s story tonight. Hmm. Maybe I need a title for that one. Can’t keep calling it “Meg & Matt’s Story” for the rest of my life! πŸ˜€

But first, I need some dinner. I started work at 3:45, and by the time I hit a breaking point, we were so close to finished with the Monday paper that I didn’t want to leave for an hour. That means now, I’m starved!

* * *

I’m back. Had a surprisingly filling baked potato topped with cheese, veggies, bacon bits and reduced-fat sour cream for dinner, then wrote some more.

Added a Word Count Countdown ticker from writertopia.com to my sidebar.Β That’s right: 307 down, 99,693 to go! (I’m stepping up for the NARWA Word Count Club challenge β€” 100K words in 2010.)

January 17, 2010

Musings, quest

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Again, I went to my NARWA meeting … and again I was inspired by a great speaker. Jennifer Ashley talked about how to finish that manuscript and get it published. And as usual, I had to come back to Flagstaff and head straight to work when I wanted to go home and write.

Agents and the business of writing were on the table, but the most important take-home point for me was this:

Treat writing like it’s your day job and it will become your day job.

It sounds like such a simple concept … yet I’ve been guilty of writing only when “I feel like it” or when I’m inspired.

What I need to do is get in the habit of writing every day, whether I feel like it or not.

Hmm. Now that I think about it, discipline is a big problem in other areas of my life, too. I’m trying to lose weight, but I don’t always stick to my Weight Watchers plan β€” I do it when I feel like it. (That’s probably why I’m having trouble taking off the last few, eh?) …Β  All too often, I feel like eating something I shouldn’t, like gooey, cheesy Italian or Mexican food.

But that’s another blog! πŸ˜€

Now, let’s get back to the subject at hand: writing. For the next week, I’m going to try something different. Every day, I’m going to spend at least an hour writing β€” preferably before I do anything else. (That includes hopping online, one of my biggest distractions. Darn that Bejeweled on Facebook! I pull up the screen to play one game and end up playing for an hour …)

I’m also going to finally finish my query letter for “Operation Snag Mike Brad” and start looking for the agent of my dreams. I got some great feedback from out chapter president and will be using it to polish up my query.

It’s time for me to make writing my day job.

I’ll be logging in nightly to report how many minutes I spent writing, so please keep checking in to keep me honest.