What a Writer Wants... What a Writer Needs

                                           Yeah, I get my title doesn't trip off the tongue like the lyrics
                                                      of the Christina Aguilera song, but hey, what can I say?
                                                              It's that pesky extra syllable that's to blame...

Here's an idea of what filled up too much of my time lately during my holiday break--as I waited for feedback from Margo Dill, an editor extraordinaire:

6:17 a.m. Maybe my editor is up early, she finished looking over my manuscript and sent me her critique today. She's had it for 14 days. Yeah, Christmas Eve and Christmas day were two of those 14 days, but two weeks is enough time to critique 50,000 words, right?

12:30 p.m. I went out for four hours, knowing that when I got back, my critique would be in my inbox.

5:20 p.m. Margo has probably parked her daughter in front of a game system for hours and hours so she can finish reading my manuscript. Dinnertime? She can toss her kiddo a bag of chips and a 2-liter bottle of soda and say, "Bon appetit!" Isn't that a reasonable expectation?

8:16 p.m. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. It's an email from Margo. Oh. It's not about my manuscript. It's about something else. Doesn't she know that whenever I see an email from anyone whose name begins with a M, I start to squeal at such a high pitch, my family's been wearing earplugs? Why is she teasing me like this?

8:27 p.m. A friend emailed me: Margo is busy judging a WOW writing contest, and she has a client who got a book deal, so probably Margo is doing some last-minute edits for them. Why does a national contest and a book-about-to-get-printed-and-put-on-bookstore-shelves take precedence over my manuscript? Ain't I important, too? And I've been so patient...

Yes, this is an exaggeration when it comes to my expectations (although I minimized the 149 number of times I've checked--daily--my email), and I don't advocate parents feeding their child potato chips and sugary soda for dinner, with electronics as a babysitter. When it comes to writers with book deals and obligations like judging a writing contest, I'm at the bottom of the priority list--as I should be. I'm just trying to paint the picture of an impatient writer and show the craziness that's in our heads sometimes... which leads me to thinking what is the difference between what we want and what we need.

I'd love an email from my editor early in the process, something like, "Sioux, the beginning of this story is great. The more I read, the more I'm lovin' it."  The problem? One, that's not how professionals do it and two, what happens if 20 pages into the manuscript, the story tanks? I want some preliminary feedback. However, what I need is critique on the whole manuscript. After all, it is hopefully a cohesive and compelling piece, from the first word to the last line.

I'd love to have an editor who devotes all their time to my manuscript. I want them to put aside their other work, their other clients, their other obligations and focus on just me. The problem? An editor who is not well-rounded and doesn't have a life to live is not going to be a decent writer or critic (in my opinion). And an editor who doesn't have other clients means they lack experience. What I need is an editor who can juggle many different projects at once, who is in demand enough that they have to juggle several jobs simultaneously.

I'd love to get my manuscript critiqued in a few days. A week, tops. Isn't that enough time to read it and make notes of any minor changes that are needed? Yes, I want it fast. Instantly. But what I need is thorough, and thorough can't be done quickly. If my editor rushes through reading my work, they might miss some plot holes, some character mix-ups. They might gloss over the draggy parts in their hurry to get back to me.

And now, I'm off to check my email. Again. I made a little bet with myself: if I took the time and wrote this post, by the time I finished, the critique would be in my inbox...

Sioux Roslawski did hear from her editor in a timely manner and she got a big thumbs-up from Margo. In the next couple of weeks she'll make some minor revisions and then begin sending it out. Sioux got what she wanted--encouraging and constructive feedback and she got what she needed--a critique that missed none of the tiny details but at the same time, kept the bigger picture in mind.

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10 comments editorial critiques, manuscripts, Margo Dill

Manuscripts: A Love Affair

Last year, I had a series of relationships which ended badly. I’m talking manuscript relationships. They all started out well. My characters were compelling, my ideas rich. I was eager to see how the story would develop and plunged in headfirst, giving it my all, talking about it to anyone who would listen. I was sure this was “the one.”

But after a few chapters, my enthusiasm waned. Our “romance” fizzled out. I couldn’t muster the energy to commit. The spark wasn’t there anymore. Feeling dejected and defeated, I did what any desperate writer would do: I ghosted* my manuscripts.

Several months ago, I read a “Dear Amy” – she’s a Washington Post columnist who gives advice to readers in need – about a woman who felt stuck. She’d had a series of romantic relationships, but they all ended in heartache. The woman didn’t know how to break out of this cycle. Amy advised the woman to switch her routine, to find romantic partners in brand new places, and to choose people who were the opposite of her usual type.

Amy’s answer made perfect sense to me and, the more I thought about her answer, the more I could apply it to my manuscript relationships. Maybe it was time to try something new.

An idea for a children’s picture book sat in the back of my mind. It had been there a while. Despite my lack of confidence, because I’d never attempted to write a picture book before, I took Amy’s advice, pulled the idea forward, and got started. Each word in a picture book needs love and attention, and I spent a great deal of time nurturing the overarching theme, choosing the perfect action words, and completing a sweet, beautiful little story about a small girl and her comfort object.

In one short week, I had a picture book manuscript I was proud of. It was complete, polished, and wonderful. We had a lasting relationship. In a small way, moving out of my comfort genre and trying out a new relationship helped me fall in love with writing again.

Writing and finishing the picture book was exactly what I needed to move forward with a YA fiction project. Picture books need love and attention, but so do YA novels! After finishing the picture book manuscript, I felt invigorated, and set to work on an outline for a current work in progress that I still had feelings for.

I think it might be the one.

*Teenager lingo for ending a relationship by disappearing from the other person’s life completely. No calls. No texts. Unfriended from all social media. Simply gone.

Bethany Masone Harar is an author, teacher, and blogger, who does her best to turn reluctant readers into voracious, book-reading nerds. Check out her blog here and her website here.

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3 comments manuscripts, new genres, nurturing writing, old manuscripts, picture book, trying something new, work in progress, writing relationships, YA fiction

You Don’t Have to Be the Best Writer to Get the Best Job

It doesn’t matter if you write the most intriguing query letter and it doesn’t matter if you write the perfect article if you’re making any one of the mistakes I’m about to share with you.

The hard truth is, the best writers don’t necessarily get the best writing jobs.

The best writers don’t necessarily get any jobs. Talent alone will not get you hired.

Depending on how you feel about your own writing skills, reading that might have made you feel better or worse. But whether you believe writing skills are the product of inherent talent or years of practice, there are simple steps you can take to ensure you score regular gigs. These steps really don’t have anything to do with talent, but they do indicate whether you are a professional.

As a managing editor of a major website, I look for professionals. Typos, misspellings, factual errors, and sloppy writing are all hallmarks of unprofessionalism. You don’t want that label.

You want to be the opposite of that. You want to stand out from the crowd because you do care and you do comb through every detail of your work. Remember, an editor is typically overworked and overwhelmed. He or she is likely primarily looking for a reason to delete emails, and secondarily looking for quality materials.

So, here are six things you should look for in your article, manuscript, pitch, or query before you hit the send button. These might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how often I see them in my inbox. And let’s be real, we all know we’ve committed at least a couple of these.

1. Spelling – Misspellings are an instant reason for an editor to hit “delete.” Keep an eye out especially for things that spellcheckers won’t recognize, such as “their” instead of “there.”

2. Adjectives and adverbs – These should not be the heart of your writing. Superfluous use of them is the sign of an immature writer (in years or in experience). Delete as many as you can.

3. Grammar – I don’t expect all writers to be grammar nerds, but I do expect them to have a general understanding of their craft. Look for non-sequiturs and noun-verb agreement in particular.

4. Repetition - Repetitive use of the same word is another sign of either a young writer or someone who hasn’t reread and refined her draft. If you see the same word popping up, it’s time to bust out your thesaurus.

5. Clichés – By definition, clichés bring nothing new to your work. Delete them all.

6. Incorrect clichés – It is not a “mute point” and there’s no such thing as “intensive purposes.”

Aside from all that technical stuff, there’s another level editors look for in potential writers. They look for people they actually want to work with. People they might even enjoy working with. This is something you should seek out, as well, because if someone enjoys working with you, he or she may hire you again.

When selecting writers, I look at three qualities (I didn’t come up with these, they came from reading many business books):

1. Does the person turn her work in on time?
2. Is she pleasant to work with?
3. Is she skilled at writing?

“Yes” answers to any two out of those three will result in a positive and productive situation for both the writer and me. So, first, get your article, manuscript, pitch, or query in tip-top shape by rereading and checking it against the list above. And then be punctual, pleasant, and good at what you do.

If you can handle that on top of having an excellent query letter and article, then you’ll be shoulder to shoulder with a small percentage of capable people any editor would be eager to hire.

***

Becca Borawski Jenkins is the Managing Editor of a major health and fitness website—a job she earned based on the success of her personal blogging. As the editor of BreakingMuscle.com she oversees a team of writers and editors, publishing 24 high-quality articles per week to an audience of almost 5 million readers each month.

Though she was born with the instinct to write, as a teenager she decided that a career in film and television would be more “practical” (don’t ask her the logic behind that). But even while studying filmmaking, she excelled as a writer, having a play produced in undergrad and a script turned into a short film in graduate school. While earning her MFA in Cinema-Television Production at USC, she focused mainly on scriptwriting and editing—both core elements of good story telling and fantastic ways to study story structure.

You can find out more about Becca by visiting her website: writing.huntgatherbrew.com

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Join Becca's upcoming online class, 

How to Write Meaningful Content for the Internet. 

Visit our classroom page for details and enrollment.

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1 comment Becca Jenkins, best writer, freelance writing, manuscripts, online class, pitching editors, query letters, WOW class, writing jobs, writing skills

Friday Speak Out!: See the Forest—Not Just the Gorgeous Trees

by Sioux Roslawski

Sometimes writers benefit from a checklist. With my recently-finished manuscript in hand, I was checking off boxes all willy-nilly on my checklist. And my checklist, like everything else in life, I was doin' Sioux-style.

Print off my manuscript—all 153 pages and 82,814 words of it—just because I want to see the stack of papers in all its black and white glory (and because I love using big binder clips)? Check.

Send off my manuscript to a great editor-friend before it's truly ready? Check.

Beg—and convince—my writing critique group to read it, even though it's a hot mess? Check.

Decide that really, it's ready to send to a publisher because it's just that good, even though none of my beta readers have finished it nor have they given me feedback, but what a time-saver it will be because I can snag a publishing contract while my friends are still affixing (all glowing) post-its on the pages of my manuscript? Check. Then, uncheck.

Read the comments my critique group members have sent me? Realize they are saying the same thing I was telling myself—deep down inside? Understand that within the hot mess is something worthwhile? Check. Check. Check.

In the last six months I've floated down the river Denial. I've arrived at the lake of Reality. And I now realize that—probably like most novel-writing authors (except for writers like Jodi Picoult and Joe Hill—grrrr!)—I have lots of hard work ahead as I delete tens of thousands of words . . . as I begin my story from a different point of view . . . as I begin from (almost) scratch.

Now what I can check off my checklist—with lots of personal experience—mustering the momentum necessary to complete a manuscript. My WIP took almost as long as it took Harper Lee to write her classic. And yet hers has lived on for decades, and mine is threatening to self-combust.

As I begin to begin the revising, the deconstructing, I understand that I only saw the snarky, snort-worthy parts, the poignant parts that I was sure would move the reader—I couldn't see my story (the forest). I couldn't see that it lacked a cohesiveness, that it only made sense to me.

Now I'm making a new checklist: Determine the point of view. Create a story arc. Make the story more me (which means there will be generous servings of snark).

It'll be a good long while before I can check things off on this to-do list. But I'm patient . . .

* * *

Sioux Roslawski is a third grade teacher, a freelance writer, a dog rescuer for Love a Golden and a future novelist. Her stories have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul and Not Your Mother Book collections. More of her writing can be found at http://siouxspageblogspot.com
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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!

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7 comments editing, Friday Speak Out, manuscripts, novel revision, Sioux Roslawski, writing groups

Tips for Formatting Your Manuscript

When I was in graduate school, I fell in love with designing the written word. I took a class on document design and created a compilation of my writing to print and send out to agents and publishers. (Whether or not I thought I would be discovered with that compilation is for another post.) Electronic books were on the horizon, but I was working with print.

Interested in print or e-books? Photo credit: flickr | kodomut

Fast forward ten years and the professor from that class has contracted me to design a book. Yes, a print book. It's a strange place to be in because, well, I am also dabbling in designing e-books. WOW has a great addition to how to format for Kindle or Nook. But keep in mind that there are overlapping design concepts in both print and e-books that you can apply as you write:

• Consistency: When you plan your book, add details about how you want your chapter headings. Maybe you want chapters and numbers. Maybe you want the chapter title with a single numeral above. Decide what it is and stick with it. Throughout the entire manuscript.
• Font: I've had to break my kids' of their desire to write reports in Comic Sans. I'm not that much of a meany that I always insist on Times New Roman. But there are happy mediums in the font world. Select one and stick with it throughout the manuscript. If you can't decide between two, use one for your chapter headings and one for your text. Just make sure it's legible.
• Page breaks: In Microsoft Word, CTRL + ENTER gives you a page break. With a Mac, insert a page break. Remember to insert one at the end of your chapters. Hitting a return until you hit the next page makes for inconsistent formatting. 
• Page numbers: You may notice on e-readers that page numbering is different than with a print book. But when you're writing a draft or working on a print project, use page numbers for your own reference. It's especially useful if you print out your manuscript.
• First paragraphs: At the beginning of each chapter, the first paragraph isn't indented like the following paragraphs. In Word, you can create a special style for that paragraph that does not include an indent and apply it at each chapter.

Those are just a few suggestions at styling your manuscript for future design--whether print or electronic. What questions do you have about formatting a manuscript for print or e-readers? (I'll try to get an answer by the next time I post!)

 Elizabeth King Humphrey writes and edits in Wilmington, North Carolina. She's making plans for a full summer of writing.

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4 comments ebook formatting, Elizabeth King Humphrey, ereaders, kindle, manuscripts, nook

Taking the Plunge: Self-Publishing (or Not)

The manuscript in question.
Credit: Elizabeth K. Humphrey

I think I'm going to do it. I've been putting it off, researching it until the cows have come home and left again. I've talked about it to friends and colleagues. I've read WOW's great articles about it and I agree with Deana.

I'm going to self-publish.

Or at least I think I'm going to...I guess I need to get over my hesitation.

We all have them. Hesitations and those manuscripts printed, marked up, and relegated to the bottom drawer of a desk. Every once in a while, I pull out mine, pass it along to a reader, collect comments and back the draft goes. Life in a drawer. At one point, a large portion of my filing cabinet was devoted to the remnants of my WIPs (works-in-progress, but perhaps it should be WIHT, when-I-have-times).

Even though I need to make the final decision and I'm still not convinced I should do it, here are the reasons I've been thinking of self-publishing:

• I know my writing is ready and I want my writing to reach beyond the filing cabinet.

Sure, there is more to why I want to publish (going back to childhood reasons), but that in itself would take up another filing cabinet if I were to write my reasons.

Unfortunately, in my simple reason for wanting to self-publish is the complexity of the entire issue. While I want my writing to extend its reach, how much am I willing to support it. Let's face it, it doesn't need my support and nurturing when it's stuffed into the drawer.

I'm not saying I wouldn't have to support my novel if a traditional publisher took it on. But somehow being on the precipice of self-publishing seems just that much more daring.

Have you taken the plunge to self-publish? If so, what got you to go there? If not, what's holding you back from self-publishing?

Elizabeth King Humphrey is a writer and editor in North Carolina. Some say is the "writingist state"...if so, many file cabinet drawers must be stuffed to overflowing.

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11 comments Elizabeth King Humphrey, manuscripts, revise, self-publishing

Fishing for Beta Readers

I read the acknowledgements pages of books with as much as interest as the books themselves. I’m hoping to find the secret to beta readers in those few words. Authors thank their agents, their editors, their publishers, their mentors, their families(not necessarily in that order). They also thank their beta readers, the people who first read their manuscript.

I’ve come to believe that those first readers are invaluable as the buffer between the author, who has read the manuscript so many times they no longer know if it’s good or drivel, and the professionals. But who are these mysterious people and where do you find them? Some authors have their families give opinions on their manuscripts. I’m not sure that would work for me. In twenty years my husband has not met a word I’ve written that he didn’t like. He’s pretty sure I slipped it into the wedding vows. “To love, honor, and support by loving everything she ever writes.” My mom, a voracious reader and former English teacher, is certain it’s part of the mom code. In my family, objectivity is not an option.

Recently I had been considering hiring a reader but I don’t really want someone to edit yet. I just want someone to read the manuscript and give me an overall feeling…what they like, what they don’t, what doesn’t fit. Then a beta reader fell into my lap. At my last writer’s group during a discussion about grammar(I know, we’re wild and crazy) a fellow member mentioned how I’d read a piece for her and corrected the grammar and she “owed me one”. She did? Why didn’t anyone tell me? As soon as the meeting was over I cornered her and started laughing about her “owing me one” before zooming in for the kill. Turns out I actually had a manuscript I wanted a few people to read before I sent it out to agents and since she owed me one maybe she’d read a few chapters? What could she say, she’d just told me in front of two dozen witnesses “if you ever need anything…”.

So I’ve snagged my first beta reader and while she peruses the first few chapters I’ve been making a list of a few other people who might be willing to read a few chapters. Some of these people are just acquaintances but that’s what I need, people who don’t feel pressured to like my writing. Most I’ve done a favor for here or there. Turns out that after you snag your first beta reader the rest are easy—you just need the right bait.

Do you have beta readers and where did you find them?

You can read more about Jodi's search for beta readers at Words by Webb. Jodi has plenty of experience with magazine writing but fiction writing is new territory for her as she polishes her historical novel The Cookie Ladies.

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6 comments beta readers, critiques, manuscripts

Pubmission: Connecting Writers and Publishers With Ease

Today, The Muffin welcomes Wolf Hoelscher, owner of a new company to help writers and editors connect called Pubmission. We interviewed Wolf to find out all the ins and outs of Pubmission--a website designed to make the process of submitting manuscripts easier for both writers and publishers.

WOW: Welcome, Wolf, thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. What is the purpose of Pubmission?

Wolf: The purpose is simply to make the submission process easier for both publishing professionals and writers. Just as Monster.com or CareerBuilder attempts to connect job seekers with employers, Pubmission’s goal is to serve as a central hub for submissions that helps writers and publishers find each other in a simple, less intimidating way. From a writer’s perspective, it takes a long time to hunt through the listing manuals to find the right publisher. On Pubmission, writers can see which subscribing publishers match up with them best. And then they can go ahead and submit to them directly through the site.

There’s been a lot of talk about the death of the slush pile now that e-books and self-publishing are moving to the forefront of the industry. I don’t believe it has to be that way. As a writer myself, I know that it feels like you’re playing the lottery when you submit your work. It’s frustrating and daunting. But traditional publishers and agents still have a lot to offer writers, particularly in terms of editing and marketing. The slush pile isn’t dead; it’s just that the system is cumbersome and time-consuming. Pubmission attempts to rectify that.

WOW: What a great idea--anything to make the process of submitting our work easier is genius! How can writers benefit by using Pubmission?

Wolf: First, let me say that we try to make very clear to writers that Pubmission does not guarantee publication. If your writing isn’t fantastic, polished, and marketable, your chances of finding a publisher are slim. As a writer myself, I know that submitting your work can feel like buying a lottery ticket. But in this Internet age, there are tools out there that can help you prepare and market your submission in ways we never thought possible before. Pubmission is one of those tools.

We try to help writers with their homework. Slush pile editors are often frustrated because many of the writers who submit to them aren’t familiar with their publication and send them inappropriate work. But on Pubmission, not only do we list the guidelines and company info for each publisher, we also show writers which publishers have needs that pair up with the genre and tags associated with each submission.

So as a writer, you can send your submission directly to the publishers you like, and you can submit it to the General Database [on Pubmission], where any subscribing publisher has the ability to search for it.

There are also things you can do to improve your submission’s visibility. Editor Ratings not only show publishers a star rating based on an editor’s appraisal of its saleability, but each comes with a short critique that can give a writer an unbiased second opinion. We’re also adding a page that will show you how your rating matches up with other submission ratings on the site per genre.

And one of the things that I like, now that I have a few of my own submissions on the site, is that you can see in your dashboard how many times each submission has been viewed by a publisher. That beats sitting around waiting for a letter in the mail and hoping that someone is looking at it, that it’s not collecting dust in the corner or lost in a spam folder.

WOW: All of those tools sound really useful for writers. What types of genres are allowed on Pubmission? Fiction and nonfiction?

Wolf: Everything. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, screenplays, and plays. Of course, we don’t have publishers signed up in every genre, but that’s our goal. Be sure to check out the list of subscribers on our home page; and if you post a submission, you’ll get e-mail alerts whenever a publisher in your genre arrives.

WOW: How can publishers benefit by using Pubmission?

Wolf: As a former acquisitions editor, I designed the site as something I wish I had been able to use when I was facing that large pile of envelopes. I knew that Pubmission had to save paper as well as the time it takes for opening envelopes, tracking submissions with data entry, and sending rejection letters. Now, with Pubmission, publishers and agents can view their entire slush pile on one sortable table, quickly see which submissions have gotten the best reviews, and sort submissions based on keyword match percentages. They can start or stop submissions at any time. They can also contact the writer directly through the site’s message center and send rejections or personalized notes with a click of a button.

But what I really like about the site is that it changes the submission process from a passive act – sitting around waiting for the right writer to come along – to a more proactive exercise. You can find writers for your readers. Say that there’s demand for a new farm-to-table cookbook. A publisher can just search the database for it without putting a call out for submissions that generates an even larger slush pile.

Also, if a gem has entered the database – perhaps a submission with a 5-star rating – the sorting feature of the publisher’s dashboard allows them to see a quality submission right away rather than six or eight weeks down the road when an editor finally opens the envelope or e-mail.

WOW: It is amazing how the right technological tools can make writing and submitting easier these days. It sounds like Pubmission is one of those tools--for writers and publishers! Who are some of the publishers on Pubmission?

Wolf: Most who have signed up during our initial beta-testing period are smaller independent publishers, companies who are interested in the capability of generating a list that matches their readers’ expectations. Wampum Books is a publisher of Native American literature. Odyssey Books is a new Australian publisher. Brighter Books is a Canadian e-book press and TSTC is looking for academic writers. EPIC and Dragon Moon Press are both outstanding science fiction/fantasy publishers. A link to the full list of publishers and their submission guidelines is always available on the home page.

WOW: These are often the publishers that are overlooked when writers are first sending out their work. So, it's great that Pubmission has teamed up with them. Is there a cost for using your services?

Wolf: For writers, Pubmission operates using credits that you purchase or earn. For now, each credit equals $2 USD. But it’s important to me as a writer that there is some free access to the site. So upon sign up, each writer gets 6 free credits, which will allow her to send work to up to three publishers for free if she chooses. Or she can apply the credits to other features like Editor Ratings (15 credits) or the General Database (8 credits). After sign-up, the writer gets 2 additional credits every six weeks. So if you want to use Pubmission without spending a dime, you can.

WOW: Sounds great! A writer can get her feet wet with the free credits and then move on from there. Plus, writers are saving money on ink, paper, postage, and so on. What's the sign up process like?

Wolf: After you enter your professional information, much as you would in a cover letter, you can add a submission. In addition to things like the work’s title, word count, and genre, you can add tags that better define the work in the database. You also provide a short abstract and a submission sample that’s limited to 20,000 characters – which IS about the length of three chapters of a novel. There’s also an allowance for you to upload three illustrations or photos to supplement the submission. Then you proceed to “Submission Control” where you can send the submission directly to publishers, submit it the General Database, and add Editor Ratings.

WOW: Why did you start Pubmission?

Wolf: As an aspiring novelist, I was frustrated with the submission process, especially since I knew what it looked like from the other side of the slush pile—from the editor’s perspective. On both sides, there’s a lot of waiting around hoping for something to happen, and I thought I could create a tool that helped both sides equally, that gave both more control over the submission process. It also had to be transparent and time-saving. And there’s still an enormous amount of paper that’s being wasted through the slush pile. At the very least, Pubmission is saving some trees.

WOW: Thank you, Wolf, for sharing information about Pubmission with Muffin readers. Keep on saving those trees and helping writers and publishers connect. It sounds like a great service. Muffin readers, if you want to check out all that Pubmission has to offer either as a writer or editor, please go to www.pubmission.com.

interview conducted by Margo L. Dill, http://margodill.com/blog/

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2 comments manuscripts, Margo L. Dill, Pubmission, slush pile, submission tracker, submissions

The Fear of Submitting My Manuscripts

Each day on my calendar, I list the writing tasks and goals I would like to accomplish. I'm hardly ever able to complete everything I have planned--this is either because there's no possible way a human being could finish all those tasks, or I spend to much time on e-mail, or I play with my dogs and watch reality TV. Okay, so maybe it's a combination of all three. It doesn't bother me too much because I do accomplish a lot, and I can usually catch up on the weekends. But the one thing I've noticed is that I always put off a certain task-until it's too late at night and I'm too tired to do what is required. That task is sending out my creative work to agents and editors. And I'm trying to figure out why this is.

Currently, I have three projects--a YA novel and two picture book manuscripts--that are ready to be submitted. I have submitted the YA novel to a few agents and received rejections. Then I had a brilliant idea (or at least I think so) about one of my character's motivations, so I am in the process of changing a few things in the manuscript. But still, all in all, these three are ready to go, and I am now more excited about the YA novel with my new change. And almost every day on that list of things to do, I write something like: "Find agents that accept picture books." or "Look into the editors I met at the November conference." But did I do this at all last week? NOPE. Did I do it this week yet? NOPE.

It's not like I did nothing --I've written articles, book reviews, blogs, part of a synopsis (talk about procrastinating--these things are horrible to write), revised a picture book manuscript, and more. But I always put sending out my manuscripts at the bottom of my list, which I hardly ever get to. WHY?

Do I fear rejection? Well, I guess we all do to a certain extent. But I've had enough of it over the last ten years to know that it only hurts for a little bit before my optimistic attitude wins out, and I recover. Do I hate researching the editors and agents? Frankly--yes, whenever I read a blog post or interview with an agent or editor, I think: What she's looking for is exactly what I'm writing. She'll accept my manuscript for sure. And then when I see the rejection, I think: Maybe I need to work on my reading comprehension skills because obviously she wasn't looking for my work at all. Or maybe I just hate sending out my work because it takes the time away from actual writing, and there's no guarantee that the time I just spent sending out my work will pay off.

So, what should I do about this problem--since if I never send out work, I will never accomplish my goals? I know what I should do. I should put sending out my work at the top of the list, unless I have a deadline for something else. OR Make it a goal to send to one agent or editor each day. That's what I should do. But first I have to get over this mental block. I hope by sharing this with you today, that's the first step. Anyone else have these kinds of problems? It's not writers' block--it's sending-out-your-work block.

post written by Margo L. Dill, http://margodill.com/blog/
photo by Pink Moose www.flickr.com

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5 comments Editors, literary agents, manuscripts, Margo L. Dill, submissions