Writing is Easy--Selling is Hard

I spend the weekend doing fun activities with the girls, but working while they slept in. They sleep a lot Praise the Lord! Any rate, I zipped the full MS up to autocrit twice--am disregarding some of the info as it is, well, automatic, but it is useful for misspellings and basic grammar, echoes etc. I reworked my synopsis to reflect the changed ending. I obsessed over what to send first and how to approach it.

Do I send both the partial and the full out? Or do I hedge my bets that the agent is the one and send the full to her? I asked my trusted CPs what to do and a few other writers I just met. My gut and my CPs said to send the full out to the agent, but to tell her that an editor has requested a partial and another editor has expressed interest. As she is the agent, knows the publishing house better, I'd like her to read it and rep it if possible.

If I don't hear back in a month, then I'll send a small nudge. Best of all, I will see her in October, so I can pitch the next book to her and then find out where she's at with the 3rd book.

But it's daunting. I mean, now I give it a few more polishes before I send it out, but the truth is, at a certain point, I have to let it go. It'll never be perfect, but I want it as perfect as I can get it for me without changing the story globally.

And once it is out there, I must refocus my energy and write the next book. I need to revise it! That's what I want to do. All this other stuff is important, but not my main emphasis. With the third book, I'm trying not to worry too much about grammar and perfection as much as I am trying to get the emotional elements of the story down. With the fourth book, I need to do research and get the syntax down.

At least I know what the editors at BLAZE are looking for now. It's a start.

But writing is easy. Selling it is work. And it is hard work.

I am going to the Moonlight and Magnolia's conference this October. I'm building on the momentum of my national conference. I need to work on that side of my writing. It's an expense, but one worth taking if I am serious about my SELLING my writing.

For some, it might be about the social aspect. And certainly that is true. It's wonderful to be surrounded by other people who get the writing life. But it's also about networking. I've just begun. I plan to go further.

I have a busy week ahead. The last days of my DD's BFF visit are drawing to a close. We're taking her to the airport in Birmingham on Tuesday. On Wednesday, clean clean clean. On Thursday, schedule pick up (dreading it) and drive to Asheville. We stay in Asheville till Sunday. Then it's home again. I start major polishing on the following Monday.

Who knows? Maybe this will be a hit. Doubtful. But I can dream.