Monday, June 3, 2013

In Which I'm Tempted

So, I sat around for a few hours, knowing I had to write a blog post for today but not coming up with anything.
Like nothing. At all.

I hate when that happens. I'm sure I have something to blather about, and yet here I sit, blank.

I dunno. I've been steadily working on revisions. Both line edits, and bigger stuff. I think I'll be ready to query later this summer. Last week I had the first itch about querying All That Remains. Because I'm still querying Break Free, I think that helps keep the itch away. But something triggered me last week and I was all "ooooh, maybe I could just send out one query..."

And then I smacked myself around because that was such a dumb ass idea. I've never been a person who's knowingly queried too soon. I've never understood those people who send out a query, just to test the query, then freak out when they get a request because the MS isn't ready yet. Like, why would you put undue stress on yourself like that? Revising is hard enough. I mean, I've had a request before I've finished revisions, but that's not because of a query I actually emailed out, you know?

Ah well, what can you do. Just keep my head down and continue revising, I suppose.

Hey, look at that! I managed to ramble on and make a post.

Anyhoo, how are your projects coming, writing or otherwise?

12 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Smart move - don't send until you're ready. Writing is already stressful enough!

Matthew MacNish said...

I'm getting close to querying Ruby. On the one hand, if it doesn't get picked up, I'm so going to feel like giving up, but on the other, it's really only my second try, so ...

Elizabeth Seckman said...

Those hasty queriers probably peek at Christmas presents too!

Maria Zannini said...

I've never queried prematurely, but a friend once talked me into entering a contest that only required the five opening lines to a novel.

Much to my surprise, I won, and I had to scramble to get a finished manuscript to them. The editor was great though and she told me to take my time. She'd wait.

I finished and sold that manuscript within 3 days of submission.

It was a matter of dumb luck and understanding editors.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

I suppose they are coming along. I'm getting ready to self-pub a semi-pornographic dark fantasy story that I've had a few requests for. Other than that, nada. It's a big job though, so should keep me busy over the next few weeks.

Elizabeth Twist said...

I wanted to write about how my projects are going, but I was distracted by Michael's promise of semi-pornographic dark fantasy. Uh: yes please.

Southpaw said...

My projects are finally pushing through the humps(so to speak).

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

I read this on my phone earlier and finally now have a chance to comment!

Just wanted to say good on you for holding off. I can understand the temptation to jump in. But hold off and play your cards right, lady. It'll get you so much further.

<3 <3

Unknown said...

Agreed; don't press the send button until you're sure you can deliver the goods and the goods are good :)

Catherine Stine said...

I agree, not wise to query too soon. Get it as tight as possible. As for me, I have a launch of my latest YA thriller, Ruby's Fire the week of June 24!!! It's been a long time in the works. No rushing it for me, even if I wanted to.

Andrew Leon said...

I actually sent out a query to a publisher when I was on the tail end of finishing The House on the Corner. It wasn't because I was hot to query it, but I ran across this publisher that seemed like a good fit, so I sent out a letter just to open a line of communication. I explained that I wasn't quite finished with it, yet, but was wondering if it was the kind of thing they might be looking for. It turned into a good conversation, and, when I finished it, I sent the manuscript to their editor in charge of reading submissions (I forget what his actual title was). he loved it, and they made an offer right away. Unfortunately, it was an incredibly bad offer, and they wouldn't budge from it, so I turned them down.
After that, mostly, I didn't query any more.

Hannah said...

You know where I'm at. Struggling through revisions so I can complete this full request, I wasn't ready for. >_<

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