I have spent the past few weeks staring at a collection of files that have amassed on my computer Desktop, my chin resting on one hand so that my mouth would not be open in the tell-tale fashion of overwhelmed dismay and my other hand holding a large clump of hair ready to pull it out. These files have the innocuous names of QueryLetter and WriterBio and Synopsis, all perfectly normal and harmless documents ... one would think. I know otherwise. These innocent looking files have infiltrated my dreams and turned them into nightmares.
Writing a cohesive and intelligible story with enough humour and surprise to keep readers interested seemed like conquering the mountain peak. I had a flag -- and I stuck it in the mountain top and claimed this story for Valtinen Silvero, word explorer, discoverer of untold tales. And then the fog lifted and I went "holy hell," because there, hidden by the fog was yet another peak, taller, steeper, and decidedly more slippery than the terrain I had just climbed.
Of this new leg of my journey, I am partway up the slope. I have to thank Dina James for dealing graciously with my hyper-paranoid ulcer-inducing fear of heights. The Synopsis though remains an icy ledge with no way around. I plan on making a grand frontal assault on that eventually. Of course, once I do all this and reach this new peak, plant my new flag, and give myself a smug pat on the back, I know that the fog will again clear to show me yet another peak I must climb in order to conquer the mountain, that of the actual submissions and agent responses.
That leg will be the hardest of them all, comprised mostly of waiting out the storm after every submission and hoping that I won't get knocked over too harshly. I plan on picking myself up, brushing myself off, and trying again when I do -- I'm a stubborn man -- but I am not looking forward to all the scrapes, bruises, and broken bones.
This adventure has been a confusing one with many sources telling me different things, even the same sources contradicting themselves about format. I suppose that I will find out what works eventually. Of course, even contemplating the brazen act of querying anyone makes my hands tremble. How cheeky of me.
I have recently been faced with another writerly challenge. I was asked to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. For those of you who don't know what that is, November is National Novel Writing Month and the objective is to write 50k words in the thirty days of the month. I, personally, am not a great fan of this concept since I believe it leads to lazy rambling redundant writing -- a thing of which my own NaNoWriMo project is guilty -- and tempts most people into thinking "50k words! Imagine! It is a brilliant novel as-is," which lazy rambling redundant writing never is. I understand and approve of the discipline NaNoWriMo forces upon the writer though to create words and bring life to what was a mere shadow of an idea, which was why I went along with it.
My NaNoWriMo project is something I am going to bury once the month is done. I was going to delete it, but I was talked out of such a drastic measure. I am not proud of it though. I do not like it. I feel as if I am short-changing myself by allowing the word count to mean more than the words themselves. However, I am taking this challenge seriously, viewing it like work, and attempting to get it done.
This adds yet another obstacle to my mountainous climb. First, holidays, no matter what religion or non-religion you subscribe to, usually is a time for families to spend time together, and I would be truly selfish indeed to expect any agent to look at my stuff while s/he was supposed to be taking a moment out of the year to breathe. Secondly, I have been told, NaNoWriMo participants tend to give into this perfect as-is trend that I mentioned above, thinking that because they wrote 50k words in 30 days it is the next NYT Bestseller, and subsequently drown agents in queries. I have to wait at least until February before I can consider sending anything -- at which time I may already be committed to a graduate school program and will be unable to devote time to my writing, in which case, I shall not be sending anything out at all.
No pressure, right?
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