Hey, sweet readers! I know a bunch of you are hanging out at Write On Con this week, hoping your hard-worked and awesome manuscripts get picked up by those Ninjas. (Hi Ninja Agents! We love you!) Last year, for me, the week was full of highs and lows. I was hoping the conference would get me an offer, but it turns out that the best thing I got out of it was meeting my second-oldest critique partner. Way better than an offer.
And, here's what happened since last year's WriteOnCon.
(I mean this post to be encouraging. I hope it is. Forgive me if it isn't. I think you're wonderful.)
I met Gina fourteen months ago, and Chessie just about a year ago.
Back then, we swapped manuscripts for critique.
All of those manuscripts went through the query trenches.
All of those manuscripts subsequently went in the drawer.
We wrote new manuscripts, and critiqued those for each other too.
We queried and contested those manuscripts to death.
In the last two months, we all signed with agents.
Those second manuscripts are now floating around in the wide sea of Publishing.
I just sent Chessie my third manuscript.
That feels good.
It's a short story, but it's a big one.
And here's the lesson:
Work hard.
Have good friends.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.
You're doing a great job.
Keep. On. Going.
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This was most encouraging.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
This was great, Leigh Ann. Thanks. I've already met 2 new beta readers through Write On Con, and you know what...I'm not even upset that Ninjas haven't visited my 250 words or 5 pages. Meeting people who love writing and books as much as I do is really what the conference was made for. Okay, and getting advice and feedback. :) I love writing your story about getting an agent (was just telling a friend the other day) because it gives me hope that all writers CAN find their path...it may just take longer than they thought. Good luck with submissions to pubs!
ReplyDeleteUm **reading your story about getting an agent. Too much Write On Con - it screws with my grammar ;-)
DeleteThank you Leigh Ann! I'm having such a hard time focusing on anything right now, just wanting this baby to be born... Writing, cleaning the house, cooking, everything feels out of my reach right now... I've felt so overwhelmed by the amount of people getting agents lately that I seriously want to finish my MS's and get them out there! Thanks for the encouragement. I'm excited to follow your respective journeys! Lots of love <3
ReplyDeleteEven though I was writing on borrowed minutes when I first "met" you, it somehow seems like I have even less time now than I did back then. I have to remind myself all the time to keep going, because if I managed to finish two manuscripts, I can finish a third.
ReplyDelete(Wanna hear something sick? The other day, I kind of missed querying. For one really brief, really effed up minute.)
Yay! More encouragement! It's been a good day for good feelings all around. Thanks for adding to it. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! It feels good to have the encouragement, especially when the query trenches get hard. I'm on my new WIP so I'm not facing that yet, but when I do... It'll be hard, but thanks for this :)
ReplyDeleteThis might be the best post I've read on what makes this writerly community work. It is so so true, and this has been my experience over the last three years. :o) Good stuff~
ReplyDelete