Currently reading The Four Last Things by Andrew Taylor. It's part of a trilogy of connected books that don't directly relate--which caught my attention since that's sort of what I'm planning. I'm interested to see how Mr. Taylor does it.

The only sign of life in my cubicle today...

The Waiting Game

The novel has been sent. The agent acknowledged receipt. So now we wait.

If any other writers read this blog, tell me: What do you do during these waiting periods? Do you keep working on polishing up the novel (it's been polished a million times, but it could always use a little more)? Do you work on another novel? A short story? Do you twiddle?

I suppose I shall twiddle for now. Better yet, I'll work, since I'm at work and that's where work is done.

Crunch Time

I had submitted a query letter to an agency to see if they might be interested in my novel. They were, insofar as they wanted to see the first 30 pages or so. I sent those off earlier this month and sat back, expecting a wait of at least a month if not two.

She emailed me back last night, saying she enjoyed my sample pages. She wants the full manuscript.

Now, this is good news. If nothing else, this is further than I've gotten in the past. However, I'm making my final edits now, and thought I'd have enough time to do so before any manuscripts were requested. So now I'll be spending my weekend, locked away from the world, staring at my computer and polishing the whole thing up one last time. Fortunately, I've already made line edits on a printed copy, so all I have to do is make the Word copy reflect those changes.

Oh, also, I had Red Robin for the first time last night. I completely concur with the chorus which hums in the commercial. It is very hummm. So good.

(Re)writing

I cannot count how many times I've gone over my manuscript. I mean, I could literally count the number of times, if I had recorded the number. But I didn't. So I can't.

At some point, I became sick and tired of reading it. In fact, as the first 30-50 pages are generally what agents want to see before they ask to see a full manuscript, I've spent an inordinate amount of time going over those, and over those, and over those. I guess the goal is to get the thing published, so I never have to read it again.

Not to say that the story doesn't excite me. It does. Every now and then, driving by myself, I'll go over the story in my mind and think, "Hey, that's pretty okay. Me like."

But I feel like the writing process is never done until someone takes the thing away from you. I could edit and edit and edit, because nothing will ever look quite right to me. That's why I have a hard time reading any of the stories I have in print. They are unchangeable. Every awkward phrasing has been tattooed to the page.

I've got some momentum, as I've reached the point where I just want to be a writer. Jobs are fine, but I want a career, and for better or worse I've picked a career that has very limited opportunity for success.

Here's hoping.

You should never end a sentence with a preposition at.

Thanks to Tina Fey, et al, for that line. Oh man. I love 30 Rock.

I received a request from an agent to see the first 30 pages or so of my novel, Legion. So, I sent it to her.

Now the waiting begins.

That sounds more ominous than it actually is. I don't know if it will be her thing or not. Either way, it's only one agency. And if nothing else, it's a symbolic gesture: I'm moving forward. Ish.