WOW! Women On Writing Blog: the end

Monday, March 28, 2022

I understand the temptation. You’re working on a new book manuscript and you want to know what people think of it. So you share the first two or three chapters.

The people who read it give you feedback. Instead of moving forward, you rewrite these three chapters because now you definitely have three. And then you share them. The people who read them give you feedback so once again you rewrite and share.

Or you’re half way through writing your novel and it is AMAZING. Really. It is the best thing you’ve ever written. So you decide to start querying it. But writing the query proves to be a challenge because you’re a pantser. You aren’t actually certain how the book is going to end. You know your main character, you know your story problem, but the conclusion of your book? You haven’t found it yet.

Or maybe it’s a website that you’re tempted to create. After all, you need a website for your book.

Or a cover. You’re planning to indie publish and you need a cover to start marketing your book.

Merchandise. You’ve seen Peter Reynold’s online store. He has prints. He has books. He even sells onesies for heaven’s sake! Certainly you should start working on some basic merchandise.

Whatever bright shiny object is tempting you away from your manuscript, before you worry about critiquing or querying, a site or a cover or merchandise, you need to complete your manuscript.

I’m not saying that it needs to be polished perfection before you share the opening chapters. Or that you need to have it laid out and print ready before you find someone to design your cover. But you do need to know that you can finish the book.

Go ahead and jot down ideas for your site or show your work to your critique buddies. But the reality is that if you want to publish, either traditionally or indie, in print or online, you have to finish.

I give my chapters to my critique group as I move along. But I don’t do major rewrites. If my group has big suggestions that mean fixing things in preceding chapters, I add a footnote to the manuscript or I TYPE AN ALL CAPS NOTE IN THE APPROPRIATE SPOT. Yes, I could add a “message” since I’m using Word, but they distract me. Hey! I’m a writer. I can be quirky.

And you can be quirky too. Write your pitch for your query letter if it will act as a fixed target to aim for as you add words to the page. Do what you need to do to reach the end.

The ending of your manuscript will help you hone the beginning, it can shape the cover, and really? It’s a huge buzz to key in those final words. You know that you’ve accomplished something big.

--SueBE

Sue Bradford Edwards' is the author of over 30 books for young readers. To find out more about her writing, visit her site and blog, One Writer's Journey.

The next session of her new course, Pitching, Querying and Submitting Your Work will begin on April 3, 2022). Coping with rejection is one of the topics she will cover in this course.

Sue is also the instructor for Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults (next session begins April 3, 2022) and Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults (next session begins April 3, 2022).

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Give Yourself Permission to Cross the Finish Line

Sunday, July 11, 2021

Some weeks, it just seems like people are telling you to stop. Don’t bother working on that particular manuscript. No, really. No one ever sells in that genre until they have a track record someplace else.

Don’t finish that query letter. Agents and editors are super slow to respond right now. It’s the pandemic. No one is sure what is going to sell or what to bring to print. That agent may not even be accepting queries by the time you finish.

Just.

Stop.

My advice to you? Don’t stop working on your manuscript. Don’t stop working on your query. Stop discouraging yourself. It is time to cross the finish line.

Earlier this week, I was trying to get back into a fiction project. My plot hinges on a pandemic. It actually isn’t vital that there be a pandemic but my characters have to be forced to abandon their planet and journey into space. What if agents and editors don’t want anything more to do with a pandemic? Maybe it should be about food shortages, energy or water? Maybe a corrupt government is poisoning. . .

“Mom!” I wasn’t discussing my plot with a fellow publishing professional but the Boy. The Boy is 22 and an engineering student. He’s my sounding board for all things technical like logistics and space travel and physics. (Un)fortunately, he comes with a full stack of opinions.

“Mom, you already know how to plot it out with a pandemic, right? So write the book with a pandemic. You can always swap it out for a new disaster later on. But you can’t rewrite it until you write it.” Like I said, he is a person of many opinions. Irritatingly enough, in this case, he was also right.

Far too often, we talk ourselves out of finishing whatever it is that we’re writing. The reasons that we come to a halt are many, but may include:

Hearing about a manuscript that sounds all too like the one you are writing.
Being told that this market particular market you are writing in is oversaturated.
Reading that unpublished writers cannot break into the genre or format that encompasses your manuscript.
Learning that your top publisher has closed to all but agented manuscripts.

And all of these things may be true. But you can’t sell your work if you don’t finish your pitch, your query, or your manuscript.

That’s right. First you have to finish. So give yourself permission to write until you reach The End. There may be people telling you to stop, but who are you going to listen to? The nay-sayers or the people telling you to write?

If you’re a writer, I think we both know which one it needs to be. See you at the finish line.

--SueBE

Sue Bradford Edwards' is the author of over 27 books for young readers. To find out more about her writing, visit her site and blog, One Writer's Journey.

The next session of her new course, Pitching, Querying and Submitting Your Work will begin on August 2, 2021). Coping with rejection is one of the topics she will cover in this course.
Sue is also the instructor for Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults (next session begins August 2, 2021) and Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults (next session begins August 2, 2021).