Day 220

Spoiler Alert! May contain planning-stage plot/character details or other spoilers!

19 Jul 2017

Huh. That was interesting. So I got back my first query critique from the #pitchwars pre-competition micro contest. The mentor who offered it is an assistant editor at a big 5 publisher.

It was… really different than I expected, so I guess probably my business background has been showing too much, ‘cause she tweaked things to sound quite a bit younger and less… polished? Direct? More, like, conversational or something. Which is probably more YA. She did push the hook that I’ve been using to the front again after I’d buried it in the extended synopsis b/c one of the #askmentor comments was that the letter should frontline your MC, so that was a plus. And in hindsight, it’s probably not surprising that she shifted it all around to feature more of the character’s journey at the forefront. So, lots to think about on it and clearly lots of revisions in my future, lol.

It’ll be really interesting to see where my editor comes out on things now that I’ve booked a query package with her - and I should probably post it to the #pitchwars forums as well to collect any other feedback. Frustratingly, the whole thing seems to be a lot like sending a book draft out to readers; conflicting feedback b/c everyone has different preferences, and you have to piece it apart to see if you can find what’s not working at the heart of the comments, lol. But everyone has pointed out that this whole process is hard, so it’s all to be expected.

I’m having trouble prioritizing and making progress between social media (so addicted to Twitter) and Pitchwars and rewrites and life… I mean, I could basically be on Twitter all day, just learning and interacting with the massive writer community there, and then Pitchwars posted a forum where you can give and get feedback on genre-specifics, and I also need to scour the blogs, tweets and comments of all the mentors to find which ones to submit to and then start interacting with them…

On the work front, I’m definitely trying to protect my time and get at least a few hours in of uninterrupted writing sprints a day, but probably shifting gears from prioritizing the rewrites to getting the query material done first, maybe with a split of daily work between the two, in case I can’t get through both in the next… whoa. Week and a half. Yikes! And my editor’s booking up into next year, so I should really be scheduling stuff for book 2, but without any sales or even a sense of whether I can afford to keep doing this from a financial or a time perspective, it’s hard to make that commitment right now… Probably gonna myopically focus on what’s right in front of me in order not to get sidetracked! And on that note, the author that was in touch wanting a sequel audiobook produced responded with sales from the first audiobook and… yeah, I just really think there’s no way I’d make any money on it. Like, maybe $5 for a month’s work, lol. So I should probably get back to her and say no, but… if it pads out my experience and gets me more work in general, will it be worth it? Possibly? There’s so many things like that right now, where I could gamble on them paying off down the line, but then they take away from investing in anything that would pay off sooner, so… yeah, lots to think about! But I’m not gonna because whee! time to revise and get some work done!!

Part 2

Right, so I’ve got a handful of loglines/hooks worked out for my editor to review, on to comp. titles! Which is both harder and easier than it sounds; I’ve got a long list of authors and books I’d like it to be like… whether it is or not is another question, lol. Tweeted out the hooks for opinions too, and I tried a FB live video by hated it & deleted immediately so no exposure via that route. Getting so, so addicted to Twitter. Also need to get back to my editor re: next book editing slots for next year; I hadn’t realized you book the first full edit at the same time, and I have no idea when I can be read for that!! But anyways, I need to power through and get some actual rewrites in today!!!

Revision notes: Need to set up the alien idea of friendship earlier between Cole and Cadence. Then have her push against it, reconcile to it, transfer it to others. Demonstrates her innocence or cluelessness when it comes to relationships and human interaction.

Wednesday

Start Time: 10 am & 2:45 pm

Location: Abbotsford; home; chair

Drinking: water & Yorkshire black tea with milk

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